Every December, as well as stuffing our advent calendar with yummy chocolates, we also fill it with little slips of paper. And those little slips of paper have written upon them something that we will do that day, together, as a family.

Now before you start confusing me with Super Mum who has endless time and patience, we don’t put these slips of paper in everyday. They usually get put in the night before when we know we will have the time to fulfil said activity. The children are always so excited when there is a little bit of paper in the drawer, and it has been such a wonderful way of forcing us to slow down a little bit at what can easily become a whirlwind of a month. And it ensures we make time for the most important thing this Christmas, no not buying presents, but spending time with our children, and quality time at that too.

So I thought I would put together a little list of some of the things we put in their advent calendar incase you wanted to give it a try. And i’ll be honest I’m not above putting in something that we were going to be doing anyway for an easy win, or even something that only I want to do to try and stave off the groans! (Sadly they see right through “We’re going for a walk on the beach” now and usually reply with “That’s not a treat!” What spoilt children I have ;)

• Decorate the tree

• Watch a Christmas movie (with hot chocolates and snacks of course)

• Decorate wrapping paper (We buy brown paper to wrap gifts so it can be recycled so the children sometimes stamp or colour it to add a little personal touch.)

• Decorate a Gingerbread House.

• Visit Winter Wonderland (Most cities seem to have one these days, it shouldn’t be too hard to find one)

• Go for a walk around the neighbourhood to see all of the lights and decorations.

• Go Ice Skating

• Go to the cinema

• Bake Christmas cookies

• Bake Mince Pies (Please tell me one day my kids will like mince pies so we can do this?!)

• Any kind of baking is always good.

• Make/Write Christmas Cards for friends.

• Read our favourite Christmas Stories (We do this one for most of the month to be fair.)

• Go for a walk on the beach (I’m definitely tricking them into this at least once!)

• Visit friends and family

• Board Game night.

• Watch another Christmas movie (You could re-use this one daily to be honest!)

• Go carol singing

• Go to a carol service (I do love carols)

• Watch the children in their school Christmas concert (You’ll probably be doing this anyway so might as well put it in!)

• Take part in the church nativity

• Make decorations

• Go to a Christmas fair or market

• Donate some old toys to charity

• Collect some items to donate to the local foodbank

• If you’re lucky enough to get snow; Go Sledging

• Build a Snowman.

• And if you do Santa; Write to and visit Santa

Hopefully most of the things on this list wont cost you much more than your time, and I think if you can invest the time in your family this Christmas season you will find you’ll have a much happier holiday.

If you’d like to keep up with blog posts, news and offers then sign up to my Newsletter below.