Create a Advent calendar of experiences

How to savor the holiday fun

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to make an Advent calendar of experiences.
Lots of people of all ages enjoy using an Advent

(00:24):
calendar to count down the days till Christmas, opening a
little door to find a new delight every day. These
calendars should technically start on the first Sunday in Advent,
that is November this year, but for secular purposes, they
tend to go from December one until Many of these

(00:45):
calendars have a little box each day to fill with
candy or a trinket. This is nice in theory, but
many of us don't need twenty five more days of clutter.
So instead, to keep the delight but skip the stuff.
Why not fill an Advent calendar with experiences. Each day's

(01:06):
box could contain a slip of paper inviting the recipient
to a holiday or winter themed activity. Some ideas singing
Christmas carols, going caroling in your neighborhood, having hot chocolate
with peppermint marshmallows, making a gingerbread house, decorating holiday cookies,

(01:29):
making paper snowflakes, going to a local production of a
Christmas carol or The Nutcracker, watching your favorite holiday movie
on TV, going to choose your Christmas tree, decorating the tree,
going for a walk in your neighborhood to check out
the holiday decorations, driving around to see epic lights displayed

(01:53):
in your town, Going to the holiday lights display at
the local park or zoo, going to see Santa Claus.
If you start brainstorming ideas of fun holiday activities, you
may be surprised at how many you come up with.
Once you have a list of ideas, it's wise to
time specific activities for days when they are likely to work.

(02:16):
For instance, on a night and your kids have hockey practice,
having hot chocolate with peppermint marshmallows is a lot more
doable then going to the holiday lights display at a park.
If you keep a master list of dates and activities,
maybe a simple spreadsheet or a list in your bullet journal,

(02:38):
you can make a switch of activities and dates. If
you need to say it's raining the day you plan
to go cut a Christmas tree, you can easily pull
out the slips of paper and swap days so you
go see Santa that day and get your Christmas tree
the next day when the forecast is sunny, hang on

(03:00):
to the master list of activities and dates. If your
family enjoys this advent calendar of experiences, you can pull
out this year's list next year as a starting point.
That will be much easier than beginning with a blank page.

(03:21):
Making an advent calendar of experiences is a great way
to build in holiday fun and delight. With just a
little bit of planning, you can inject holiday fun into
every single day until Christmas. That will truly make this

(03:41):
the most wonderful time of the year. In the meantime,
this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
the most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to

(04:01):
hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the
number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i
heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out

(04:24):
with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio,
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