Advent-practical

So, here's the quick reasons for me "over-doing" Christmas: 1. Christmas has the history in my life of being painful. I lost my dad on December 23rd, the very next year I lost my grandpa the second week of December. December equalled pain...then fast forward a couple years and through doing ministry Christmas evolved to this beautiful means to serving others yet running yourself into the ground...and then 3 years ago Christmas became this anticipation, this excitement of this gift that was coming. To the best that my human mind could understand my emotions and preperation were very similar to what was going on in the Christmas story. But more importantly FINALLY, the Christmas joy had restored itself! So Christmas is still a "crazy" time of year with running a non-profit but I have found the joy of the season once again, and have been able to do everything in my power to savor this season every year now. So, excuse me why I fan girl over advent and Christmas...for me it's not about the hype as much as it is about the mass amounts of healing and wrestling I have done to get to where I am today.

So now for the practical side of things- this is now turning into the "how Kylie does it" post-
1. Print off a calendar for December (and then add in the random couple of days of November)
2. I highlight all of the days that Andy is off (he has a rotating schedule so it is important that I plan things I want him to be at when he can be there)
3. I put in all work commitments and then x off days that work absolutely can't take over (there seriously has to be a big X or I just plan up every free moment- the struggle is real)
4. I then put in all of the family commitment stuff (extended family stuff or my best guess)
5. I then get on KCParent or other blogs of fun things to do in Kansas City. We have some things that we LOVE to do so I make sure those are on the calendar too (some things usually involve anything free, going to crown center, a live nativity, looking for christmas lights, etc)
6. Then I put all mom and Kadence dates on the calendar (the Saturdays when Andy is sleeping all day from work)
7. Then I put on the calendar when we want to be intentional- who do we want to have over, what relationships do we want to focus on, when can we share a meal with people?
8. Then I get my white mocha, a little O holy Night on, the scripture of the Christmas story and Pinterest and fill in the gaps of things on my calendar. Some days we have a theme- like a rubber ducky christmas, or a Madagascar christmas (celebrating some of our friends that were missionaries over there). Some days we have a really cute craft that I selfishly want to give away as Christmas gifts (last year we made homemade wrapping paper and she loved it). I really give thoughts to any traditions I think are developmentally appropriate for us to start and spend time reflecting on past years and what I enjoyed or things I want to scrap from the list.

The key to successfully planning advent is figuring out what you would be doing already and how can you make it special? I'm making cookies anyway...how can I make this Christmas themed baking, get Kadence involved, listen to fun Christmas music, and who can I give them to that would make their day? It takes zero extra effort and if for some reason Kadence isn't feeling it on that particular day no biggie- I was going to be making cookies anyway. I'm all about taking really ordinary and mundane things and making them into sacred experiences.

9. I then make a list of special treats I want to make over the weeks to come and separate them out to fit in my grocery budget over the weeks
10. Make a list of books I want to check out from the library- a mixture of Christmas books about the Christmas story and other books that are just silly/rhyming stories.
11. Make a list of sensory activities or fun things to do when things get boring or when we have long weekends (the weekends Andy works all weekend)
12. Make a list of songs/videos to watch when it is just so cold I can't function or if my day didn't go the way I had planned or if everyone is just needing a veg night
13. Print out some basic coloring sheets if Christmas stuff so it's on hand

I know this may sound like a lot of work for 25 days but it really is like a hobby and I don't really tell people (even my husband) how much time I spend working on it prior too...it's just my happy place.

So it may or may not be October 18th and I may or may not have Christmas music on and be drinking a white mocha...no judgement :)