I love family traditions.  And, I also like the idea of making Christmas meaningful and about being together, celebrating Jesus, and creating memories.
 I had been looking online at Advent calendars.  They were pretty pricey.  So, I decided to make my own.  I headed to Hobby Lobby and gathered supplies to make my own. And as the cost of my project kept climbing, I put all the stuff back, went home and made one with the stuff I had at home.  Not fancy at all, but free and it did the job.

Here are some of our favorite activities.

At 24 Diner

Zilker Tree

Picnic in front of our tree

Ice Skating

Ready to look at light

Party in the car

So tired

 Thanks to Pinterest, I came up with ideas for each day in December. Here is the list of what I had in my Advent calendar.
Decorate our tree 
Go to the Zilker Tree
Go ice skating
Shop for gifts for other children 
Unwrap a book to read 
Unwrap a new game to play as a family
Make a treat and take it to a friend 
Open your special ornament and put in on your tree 
Make a craft with Mom 
Write a letter to Santa 
Go to Starbucks and have pepperment drinks
Go to see the nativity at park Hills
Have a family Christmas movie night with treats 
Choose a special treat 
Shop for a gift for your preschool party 
Wrap Christmas presents
Ride on the Polar Express(drive around and look at lights and have cocoa and popcorn 
Have lunch at a special restaurant with our family 
Wear new jammies to bed 
Go to Johnson City and look at the lights
Make sugar cookies
Go to the light show at Mozarts
Have a picnic in front of the tree
Decorate cookies 
Read the story about the birth of Jesus

Looking forward to doing this again.