Gorsch Moment in Time: 25 Days of Christmas

This year we used a brand-new advent calendar (that I made!) to count down the days until Christmas. I have done this the last few years, using envelopes with note cards. I was so excited to have this new calendar (picture in a later post). The kids loved pulling a tag each day to see what special thing we got to do! Here's a run-down of our "25 Days of Christmas"

1--A Basket of books, open one each day until Christmas!

2--Shopping for toys to donate to a local toy drive. (This year we took the toys to the kids school. All toys were donated to a local children's hospital in honor of a former Troy school student. He started this toy drive before he died at the age of 20 due to cancer.)

3. Kids Christmas Program at School

4. Decorate the Tree.

5. Write Letters to Santa (I saved all the toy catalogs and the kids loved cutting out pictures to make their wishlists--especially great for Macey who can't write yet!)

6. Watch a Christmas Movie

7. Make Snowman Shaped Pizzas

8. Make Ornaments for the Grandparents (We always make an ornament each year--we give one to each set of grandparents and make one for each kid and for Marc & I to keep.)

9. Make Christmas Cards for Teachers

10. Decorate Cookies

Sadie had a friend over the day we workd on cookies--we sent her home with a plate for her family.

11. Deliver Treats to the mail carrier, trash man, & recycle man.

12. Decorate Gingerbread Houses (probably one of my kids' favorite things!)

This year we made our own houses using graham crackers, frosting, and candy. They went together so much easier than a box kit and the kids loved each getting to make their own house!

13. See a Christmas Play (We went to Minooka Bible Church to watch their kids production of "Back to the Manger". MBC is the church where I am involved in MOPS so we know lots of people that go there. The kids loved watching their friends perform and thought the play was really cool. We ended our night with a trip to TCBY.)

14. Mail Letters to Santa & Shop for presents for Siblings (We had a fun afternoon doing "2" special things on this Sunday. First we went to 5 Below to shop for sibling gifts. This year we let the boys buy for one another and the girls do the same. Marc took M & C to shop and I took S & K. We split up then met back at the car. Next we went to the mall to mail our letters to Santa at Macy's and we ended with dinner at the food court.)

15. Special Trip (We went to the Bears Game!)

16. Spread Some Christmas Cheer! (We took a big box of treats with home made cards to the local fires station. The fire fighters were so awesome--they gave the kids a tour and hats and let them climb on the trucks and turn on the siren!)

Sadie made cards shaped like a fire, a smoke detector, and a fire extinguisher!

17. Make S'mores over the fire place (We had Todd, Jennifer, and Kyra over for dinner and s'mores and they exchanged gifts with the kids.

18. Enjoy some popcorn while watching Christmas Home Movies (So this night didn't quite go as planned, I had the movies ready when Marc texted me that he got a free a red box for the kids to watch. He also picked up a popcorn tin--a favorite Christmas treat to enjoy. So instead of home movies, we watched the new TMNT movie!)

19. Gorsch Family Christmas (We officially started our Chrimtas break as soon as the kids got out of school by heading to Burlington to celebrate with Marc's family.)

20. Camp out by the Christmas Tree (This was new for us this year. We let the kids stay up late--marc watched Santa Clause 1 & 2 with them while I finished my baking. I knew I would be up late decorating cookies so I could make sure they fell asleep!)

I did not get a picture of the kiddos camp out, but this is what I was able to get done!

21. Let's go Caroling! (This is the 2nd year we've gone caroling with the kids. We visit all of our pastors and church staff with boxes of goodies and of course sing carols!)

22. Pajama & Cocoa Light Drive (This is an annual favorite tradition. This year we took our friends the Penningtons to our YMCA to swim for the night. When we were done, we put on our jammies and poured cocoa and started our adventure from there. I also added a new twist--a light scavenger hunt. We worked together to complete. As we got down to the end, we still had a few items left--snoopy, MRS. Clause, a train, and a camel... we were pretty sure we wouldn't find the camel. WELL... we hit the jackpot and found all 4 at ONE HOUSE! We found every single item including a HUGE Grinch!)

23. Smile BIG for Christmas Pictures (Christmas Eve-Eve Service)