Advent/ Elf Day 25

Merry Christmas!!!

This was Merry's last night with us. She left Charlotte a note on  her door explaining she had left with Santa that evening while she was sleeping.

 We then showed Charlotte this picture of Santa at our tree and told her that Merry left in his bag to go back to the North Pole.

 Our Advent Activity today was to bake a birthday cake for baby Jesus. I have to brag on our Church for a moment. Our MOPS group gave us cake mix and candle to bake the cake. We did not have services Christmas morning because they wanted us to spend time with our families. BUT at Christmas Eve service, they sent us home with suggested readings and communion to take with our family at home Christmas morning. Charlotte is only three but I loved having family time and having Tim read us the birth of Jesus. It might be a new family tradition!

Advent/ Elf Day 24

Before bedtime, I asked Charlotte where she thought Merry would go tonight. She said she thought Merry would go into her room and sure enough that's where she ended up. She was on the shelf above Charlotte's bed. Sidenote: I had this bear made with the outfit I took Charlotte home from the hospital in.

Our Advent Activity today was to leave cookies out for Santa. I LOVE Christmas Eve. We took both kids to Christmas Eve service at our church, went out to dinner and came home to get ready for Santa's arrival: We put out the Santa key, sprinkle reindeer food out in the grass and get the cookies and milk ready. Having kids really does make this season so much more magical.

Advent/ Elf Day 23

Merry wrapped up our Christmas Tree in toilet paper while we were sleeping. Brayden clearly was amused!

Our Advent Activity today was a mommy-daughter movie. We watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas in "mam's bed" which is something she enjoys. She was a little scared of the Grinch but overall she enjoyed it.

Advent/ Elf Day 22

Silly Merry was found inside our fruit snack container this morning. This also meant that Charlotte did not get a fruit snack yesterday. Luckily, she handled it well...  I think because she knew we couldn't touch Merry.

Our Advent Activity was to deliver Christmas Card to our neighbors. Simple but enjoyed by the Toddler :)

Advent/ Elf Day 21

This was actually something I saw on facebook and happened to find some Skittles in the pantry from Halloween. All you do is line some Skittles up on a plate and pour some hot water over them. The water melts the Skittles enough for the dye to run off and make a rainbow.

No picture of today's Advent activity because it was a simple one... Listen to Christmas Music. Charlotte has a few favorites right now: We Wish you a Merry Christmas, Jungle Bells and Rudolpf.

Advent/ Elf Day 20

This morning, Merry was found next to a picture she drew of herself, Charlotte and Brayden. Charlotte woke up and said "Look she made me"!

Our Advent activity today was to go to the Botanical Gardens. This is our 4th year going making it somewhat of a tradition. However, I am thinking we might take a break for a while. The lights are nice but its the same every year and the kids got bored this year. Tim and I have recently discussed how kids aren't into Christmas lights like we were growing up. They are so overstimulated but everything else that lights aren't appealing anymore. Kind of sad!

Advent/ Elf Day 19

Somehow our Elf knew that Charlotte has a love for band-aids. Merry raided our medicine cabinet and covered herself and the avocados with C's Dory band-aids.

Last weekend, we let Charlotte go to the mall and pick out a present for her brother. She picked out some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse figurines. Today's advent activity was to wrap the gift. While she needed a LOT of help, she enjoyed cutting and using the tape. It didn't turn out half as bad as I was expecting.

Advent/ Elf Day 18

Charlotte wasn't herself Sunday morning. She forgot to look for Merry till almost 11 when she found her hiding in the fridge.

Her Advent activity today included some one-on-one time with her Grammie! A local ice cream shop sponsored a "Very Frozen Christmas". Charlotte got to meet all of her favorites from Frozen. They had Christmas themed activities and my said she enjoyed it.

Advent/ Elf Day 17

Merry snuck all around the house after we went to bed Friday night... Charlotte woke up and said " Merry took my Olaf underpants"!

Way back in September, we purchased tickets to the North Pole Express. Its based out of the Florida Railroad Museum down in Parrish which is about 45 minutes from us. We were told you HAVE to get tickets the day the went on sale or you likely would not get them. They were right, we were literally having seats taken from our "cart". We ended up with expensive first class seats to the North Pole. The kids wore their jammies and had a great time. However, I did not think the experience was worth the cost so I am unsure if we would do it again. But it did make a fun, family-friendly Advent activity,

Advent/ Elf Day 16

So I took came down with that stomach bug that both my children had this week. So Elf responsibities fell 100% on my husband. Simply but it works when you have a sick house!

Our Advent Activity was to " Make Christmas Cards". While I relied on Etsy and Pinterest for the pdfs, Charlotte picked out the colors for each of her classmates and help me put together her teacher gifts.

Advent/ Elf Day 15

Merry really got into some mischief! Look what she did to the kids bathroom. Charlotte stopped in her tracks and said " Oh my goodness, Merry. What did you do?"

Our Advent Activity was to bake cookies for a cookie exchange party I had to attend that evening.  I just used pre-made cookie dough and added Christmas sprinkles before they were done baking. C was my helper. I get to the party and about 15 minutes in get a text from Tim stating that Charlotte was throwing up everywhere. Well I dumped those cookies in the trash and booked it out of there! Take two will occur before Christmas.

Advent/ Elf Day 14

 Silly Merry got into the flour and made a "snow angel" while C was sleeping. She tried to use sprinkles but they were just rolling all over they place!

Our Advent Activity today was to unwrap and read a new Christmas Book. Charlotte is really into Princess Elena these days and has been asking me for this book. I ordered it a awhile ago on Amazon and had it wrapped in the closet. She tried to get me to buy it at Disney this weekend too. Anyway she was so excited about the book. She kept saying things like "Why did you get this for me?", " Mama, thank you so much for this book", and "I love it". Seven dollars well spent!

Advent/ Elf Day 13

Today, Merry the Elfie also introduced our Advent activity: She brought a gingerbread house!

The picture quality isn't the best due to the lighting in my dining room. But Merry was found with a note that said " Let's build a gingerbread  house"! Charlotte wanted to do it right away but I was able to convince her to wait and do it with grammie. Naturally, I got this picture at work saying she just wanted to eat everything!

Advent/ Elf Day 12

Since the Very Merry Christmas Party gets over so late, we stayed the night on Disney Property. Somehow that silly Merry followed us all the way to Orlando and Charlotte woke up to this Monday morning.

Merry was also wearing a Frozen skirt which is how we told Charlotte that we were going to Epcot that day to meet Anna and Elsa and go on the frozen ride!


We left Epcot around 5:30 Monday night so I intentionally left the Advent activity a simple one.  The kids for to open new Christmas Jammies to wear to bed that night.

Advent/ Elf Day 11

Every night, Charlotte gets to use her tablet for 45mins before we start our bedtime routine. Since we had plans Sunday evening and she would not be able to use her tablet, we figured it was safe to let Merry borrow it for the day.


Here is Merry holding Charlotte's tablet. She also apparently went into Charlotte's room to snap a selfie (or should I say elfie?) with her while she asleep and put the picture evidence as the home screen.

 As far as our Advent activity, we told Charlotte we had to run errands Sunday afternoon. But really, we loaded up the car and took the kids to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. BIG thanks to my mom who decided to do this as a Christmas gift his year. Brayden LOVED Mickey and we all has a blast!

Advent/ Elf Day 10

Merry the Elf was sitting on your Christmas Tree this morning. She left Charlotte a note with a little game. Merry hid 5 Santa chocolates around our house that Charlotte had to find. I was really impressed with her math skills. We keep asking her questions like " ok, you found three how many more are left"?  She got it right EVERY time.

For today's Advent activity, we kept things simple since we have a busy weekend ahead! We let Charlotte pick out a holiday picture to color. I just showed her some options on Pinterest and she picked out what she wanted. She chose Rudolph.

Advent/ Elf Day 9

Several months ago, we started a behavior modification system with Charlotte. It is actually an idea someone in our church's MOPS group gave me. We have a Mason jar on the bar which is her "sweet ball jar". She earns "sweet balls" ( aka pompoms) for sweet behavior... saying please without being prompted, cleaning up, sharing with her brother etc. Likewise, she can lose sweet balls for bad behavior... not listening, hitting, etc. We use different size sweet balls based on the task. When she fills her jar, she gets to pick a reward... usually something she has been asking for around $10.


All that to say, Merry the Elf hopped in Charlotte's Sweet Ball Jar for the day. We had a small incident with Charlotte's Nia ( grandma) touching the Elf. I also thought I saw Charlotte trying to touch her as well. So we thought this would be a good way for Charlotte to carry Merry around for the day to get her curiosity out.

Our Advent Activity was to read the Christmas Story. We have been reading a lot of a touchy-feely Nativity book we have. But I pulled out all the rest of the Christmas books. I have a few favorites:
1) The Story of Christmas
2) What is Christmas?


Both are simple board books but tie the commercialized Christmas in with the real Christmas Story.

Advent/Elf Day 8

I have no idea why but Charlotte calls Minions "Kiwis". The funny thing is Kiwis are one of her favorite fruits and she also calls them kiwi so I am not sure what went wrong there, Ha! Anyway, I went to Pinterest for a easy idea. Merry made "kiwis" out of our bananas.

Charlotte's school was asking for unwrapped gifts to donate to a local community center for the holidays. So today's Advent activity was to bring in two gifts for "children who don't have a lot of toys". She was a pretty good sport about considering she is only three! Its tough at this age because while we try to push the real meaning of the season as much as possible, its so hard not to have the little ones to get sucked into the commercialism of the holiday.

Advent/ Elf Day 7

I was rocking Charlotte to bed and she was telling me all about how Merry was going to fly into her room while she was sleeping and go under her bed. So naturally, Merry had to make an appearance in Charlotte's room. She has a mini pink Tinsel tree on her dresser with princess ornaments. Merry pulled out her sleeping bag and slept under Charlotte's tree.  First thing I heard in the morning was the pitter patter of her feet running across the tile to our room to announce "Mama, Merry is asleep in my room". Excited is an understatement!

 For our advent activity today, we made "winter slime". Its a combination of water, liquid starch and washable school glue. We made it look like snow by adding white, blue and silver glittery along with snowflake sequins. All purchased at Walmart for under $1 a piece. Both kids really enjoyed playing with it... and lets be honest, this is the closest they will get to snow in Florida!

Advent/ Elf Day 6

Charlotte had a really good day Monday with regard to her behavior. We took both kids to see Santa after work and they both did so well with waiting in line etc. Charlotte has been asking for Moana things for Christmas after seeing the movie last week. So we picked up some Moana stickers at the Dollar Tree and that silly Merry got into them.

Our Advent Activity was to " Set up the Felt Christmas Tree". This is something I made 2 years ago when Charlotte was Brayden's age. So this is the third Christmas we have used it and it still keeps them entertained.  There are lots of fun ideas on Pinterest or you can buy them on Etsy if you aren't crafty! I used command strips to attach it to the wall.

Advent/ Elf Day 5

Merry was up  to no good while we were sleeping last night! She  stole the dry- erase markers made us all reindeer! So easy and one of my favorites.

Our Advent Activity today was to go see Santa at the mall. Luckily, we have been able to see the  same Santa EVERY Christmas which makes for some nice photo comparisons over the years. He is an amazing Santa and spends time with the kids. I thought for sure Brayden was going to scream but he was really into Santa!

Advent/ Elf Day 4

Day 4 Merry snuck into the craft cabinet and got into the Play- Doh.

Our Advent Activity was to set up the Little People Nativity Set. This was a garage sale find of my Mother-in-Law a few years ago. Both kids have loved playing with it. It plays music and gives us the opportunity to talk about the birth of baby Jesus. It can be found for around $30 new and I highly recommend it! Pardon Charlotte, she refuses to smile for pictures lately...hello threenager!

Advent/ Elf Day 3

When Charlotte was at school Friday I was able to run to Walmart to pick up some goodies. So nice to shop without a nosey toddler.


One of the things I picked up at Walmart was spray snow. Merry somehow got into it when we were sleeping ;)

Our Day 3 Advent activity was "Breakfast in Bethlehem". This is also something we have gone to for three years now. It is at a local church and its a great family event. They keep the food simple and they have various activities like making bracelets, a petting zoo, and pottery. Charlotte saw the guard and asked me " Mama, is that God"? :)

Advent/ Elf Day 2

Charlotte is LOVING the Elf this year. First thing she said when she woke up was " Look at the silly Merry".


Day 2 Merry set up a "Santa Cam" in the playroom to keep a closer eye on the sharing, which can be a challenge with a 1 and 3 year old! I purchased the camera ornament from a local mom who was making them.

Here is a close-up of what the letter said.

For our Advent Activity, We attended Family Movie Night at our church. We brought Brayden with us which was probably a mistake! I let the kids wear the jammies and while it was exhausting chasing around the 1 year old, they had a great time.

Advent/ Elf Day 1

Two years ago, I made this Advent Tree for Charlotte. I was actually pregnant with Brayden at the time and Charlotte was young but we had a different Christmas activity to do with her each day. This is now our third year doing this. I keep some of the activities the same each year but also switch some up.

This year, we are also doing Elf on the Shelf. I am going to try to update everyday to share our activities for both the Advent tree and our Elf, who is named Merry. God knows I can always use new ideas too!


Traditionally, The Elf on the Shelf is supposed to arrive the day after Thanksgiving. Our Elf was still in the attic so we decided to start both the Advent activities and the Elf on December 1st. 


Day 1 this year was pretty simple: Merry arrived and our "activity" was to read the Elf on the Shelf Book.