Sunday Reflections - Let the Countdown to Christmas Begin!

Couldn't decide what I should reflect on this week...........lots of things running through my head!

• My new runners. Reebok trainers. Blog worthy? I got them for $20 at a Black Friday sale. I love a deal. I NEEDED new runners. I pounded the crap out of my last pair and I was feeling every jump in my knees. Sucks getting older. But I'm excited to work out again. New gym clothes always equals new motivation. So yeah - I had to mention it. But a full post. No. BTW - I bought two pairs - they were practically giving them away and I jump around a lot. Sue me.
• The fact that I've gained 15 pounds in a couple of months (and got my butt back). Blog worthy? Hell yeah - I shouldn't only share when the scale is going down. This is real life and I'm a real person. But I need to let that one percolate a bit more - I don't really know how I feel about it. So watch for a post on the feelings that come with drastic weight loss and weight gain.
• How my new job is going. I'm through the icky "what the hell am I supposed to be doing, who the hell are these people" phase and feeling like I'm getting into the groove. So no. Not much to report there. I think I can handle it.
• How my Candida diet is going? I don't know what to say on this one. I'm in between anti-fungals. I started some new ones that made ME VIOLENTLY ILL. Seriously ILL. Like I never want to feel like that again/thought I had food poisoning ill. So I decided to take a break from them in general. And my sugar cravings are pretty fierce which means I've been doing some cheats here and there. Which means I'm a bit bloated. So I'm still in Candida land and know that I probably need to re-start the diet, find some new anti-fungals and get serious about it again. I'm following the diet 90% of the time,  but I have lost a bit of direction. So probably time to re-group. On a positive note my moods are holding so I think the Candida is not in complete control of my life. Stay tuned. 
• And since my moods are good I am feeling pretty festive. Took the kids to a Christmas concert at church this weekend. We have been baking Christmas cookies. And yesterday we put together our Advent Calendar.................

So I think I"m just going to share our Advent Calendar with you. Like everything I do its "Go Big or Go Home". And also like everything I do its "how do I go big without spending much money". So its a dollar store/garage/creativity dealy.  It doubles as artwork in our living room and the KIDS LOVE this thing. 

How did I do it:

• "Borrowed" a big leftover piece of drywall from the garage;
• Wrapped it in Christmas wrapping paper;
• Bought Christmas bags and cups at the dollar store;
• Number the bags and cups from 1 - 24 using a black marker;
• Made round covers for the cups out of scrapbook paper;
• Came up with activities, gifts and treats for 24 days;
• Write the activities on a pieces of scrapbook paper;
• Put the activities, gifts or treats in the bags or cups;
• Hang the bags and cups on the wrapped drywall using push pins;
• Let the kids take turns opening one each day; and
• WATCH their faces GLOW with excitement every day when they wake up as they anticipate opening the next bag. They LOVE doing this. Its a bit of work but worth it.

What did I put in each bag................here's some ideas!

December 1 - Let's Go Eat at a Restaurant After Church. Baba C is in town so we are taking her for Brunch. Most kids wouldn't find this very exciting but keep in mind that since we started eating clean our trips to a restaurant are few and far between. So this will be well received to say the least.

December 2 - Christmas Craft Supplies

December 3 - Let's Go to the Rusalka Open House to watch Mama try and keep up with the young Ukrainian dancers during the warm up and then watch them perform some of their repertoire. An annual highlight of our Christmas season.

December 4 - Take a Treat to School in Your Lunch

December 5 - Watch the Cartoon version of "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas"

December 6 - The Kids Get to Wash Dishes After Supper. Gotta keep them real. Ha, ha. Love to keep them on their toes. They hate cleaning. But they actually found this hilarious last year.

December 7 - Set up and Decorate the Christmas Tree. Our tree stays up until January 7th so that gives us one full month of keeping "Baby L" from being a menus. 

December 8 - Let's Go Skating. 

December 9 - Christmas Hair Ties.

December 10 - Let's Sing Christmas Carols after Supper.

December 11 - Take a Treat to School in Your Lunch.

December 12 - Do Something Nice for your Sister today. Start by Sharing your New Christmas stickers.

December 13 - Drink Hot Chocolate after Swimming Lessons. 

December 14 - Bake and Decorate some Christmas Cookies with your new Crayola Cookie decorating kit.

December 15 - Let's Go See Santa - Daddy's "Kids" Christmas Party

December 16 - Let's Read Christmas Books before Bed.

December 17 - T's Christmas Concert

December 18 - Take a Treat to School in your Lunch.

December 19 - Collect one of your Toys to Take to Charity.

December 20 -  Let's make Christmas Shapes - Dollar Store "Foamie" kit included

December 21 - Let's make a Christmas craft - Pinterest ideas will be used

December 22 - Let's so for a Sleigh Ride or Tobagganing

December 23 - Let's go to a Movie at the Theatre. 

December 24 - Time to Celebrate Jesus' Birthday with Food, Church, Carols and maybe a gift or two. 

Tip - Keep a list of what you put in each day. You might have to switch things around if life or the weather decide not to co-operate.