Follow along with LMF contributor Beth and her family as they celebrate the holidays in southwest Michigan.
Photo credit: http://morguefile.com/creative/kakisky
This year is the fifth annual “Vikings family advent calendar” experience. Since Christmas 2005 when my now-kindergartner was 21 months old, we’ve tried to make the 25 days coming up to Christmas day special. I blogged about our experiences in 2006, 2007, and 2008. However, starting tomorrow, the 2009 event begins.
For 25 days, we try to do one thing per day to getting ready and/or enjoy each other’s company in what has become a too hectic, stressed-out season. With the economy being what it is in SW Michigan, we’ve been hit hard. It seems like every week a new financial twist and turn appears that we didn’t foresee. We’re hanging in but we are definitively more interested in the more simple (and frugal) ways to spend some quality time together.
Over the next few weeks, Meagan has asked me to share some of the things (free and otherwise) that we will be doing in the St. Joseph/Benton Harbor area as we walk through our 2009 “advent calendar.” Each Monday from now on, I’ll be posting a wrap-up of the previous week. And, on each Tuesday, I’ll post a quick list and explanation of what’s coming up in the next seven days. If you are interested now in seeing my full 25 day list, you can see it here at my bloggy home.
So, for December 1st through 7th, here’s what we’ll doing at the Viking Hus and around SW Michigan:
1 traditional paper snowflakes
2 walk-in crafts at Lincoln Twsp library 6-8pm
3 Great Starts Berrien County holiday party
4 Light Up the Bluff 7pm
5 Reindog parade /Maud Preston Library sweet shoppe ()
6 put up Christmas tree
7 wreaths from paper plates
I’ll do my best to document with photos all we accomplish but, for those of you with small children, you know how it goes! I’ll probably have my hands full keeping their little fingers out of trouble. – Beth
Please feel free to use this post as inspiration to create your own advent activity calendar! Even if you can’t make it out of the house for an outing every day, think about one simple, Southwest Michigan-inspired thing you can do each day to celebrate the season. For example, you could enjoy a cup of cocoa from the Chocolate Cafe in St Joseph while listening to holiday music. Please share your own ideas (or a link to your post or Facebook update) in the comment section.