advent activity calendar

this year as we go through the month of december, we are doing a couple of advent activities in anticipation and preparation for christmas! usually i feel like this entire just rushes by, 

so i wanted to build in some activities to celebrate along the way, 

and to talk about all different aspects of this season with m.

tomorrow i'll post the creative advent calendar my sister concocted for m. she adores it & it is the first thing we do every morning. 

i also made an interactive advent activity calendar, with an activity to do every day with m and ruby. (well, at this point ruby comes along for the ride!) i couldn't decide how to make it and then settled on using take out boxes with little slips of paper inside with an activity described. 

 i tried to make it into a christmas tree formation and added a few dot stickers as ornaments. 

i stuck it on the side of the fridge with magnets and every day after naptime, 

m gets to open a box and take out a slip of paper with a description of our daily adventure.

then we head off on our adventure! 

some activities are very low-key, and others are more involved, depending on what day of the week it is. (i checked our monthly calendar ahead of time to plan things out.)

 for example:

here's a list of some of the activities we are doing, compiled from other places online (for example, i found a great list on oh happy day), my mom-in-law, and my childhood. i plan on modifying the activities as m and ruby get older since they are itty bitties right now.

-drive to look at christmas lights (the best ones in oakland are at the mormon temple-one stop, lots of wonderful for a toddler to run in the midst of christmas lights!)
-make paper snowflakes & eat "snowflakes" (yogurt covered pretzels)
-get our christmas tree as a family
-count all the money in m's piggy bank; count & use money to buy socks for homeless
-string snowflakes into garland in girls' room.
-put shoes outside of girls' room at bedtime (for st. nicholas day-i filled them with treats)
-read story of st. nicholas & draw a picture for someone elderly or sick
-make salt dough ornaments for tree
-make peppermint hot chocolate & read christmas books
-make christmas art project
-make a gingerbread house
-go to living nativity
-read the christmas story (kids version) & color a picture of the nativity
-make wrapping paper (using stamps or markers on white kraft paper or large construction paper)
-go on an adventure with someone special
-draw on the windows (use something like this)
-call grandparents & sing a christmas song
-make popcorn balls (or if it's been a busy day, just popcorn)
-decorate sugar cookies
-act out the christmas story at our house
-go to zoo lights at oakland zoo
-read christmas stories & have snacktime by the christmas tree
-go to fenton's & get peppermint ice cream
-eat dinner by candlelight
-open christmas pj's!

in addition to these activities we are trying to prepare for christmas by reading lots of christmas books about the birth of jesus and we have a playmobil nativity set out by the tree that m plays with all the time. the other day i heard her say, "hi baby jesus! it's so good to see you today!"

any other good ideas?