Advent 2012: More Prep & Day #1

So I didn't have everything ready to go on December first like I had hoped.  I still had to wrap all the books.  Luckily Melodi slept in for a while (we had had a very busy Friday with friends).  My timing was so behind that I had to run out for one more book, of course the one we read today.  Once I finished wrapping I went to put them on the mantle and Melodi just had to help, so she handed me books that were sitting on the floor.  Here are all our books ready to go for the month.  They're wrapped and have a label on the back with which book it is, so I really need to think about adding something to the front so I don't have to dig for the correct book each day.

Day 1
Book: Christmas Parade by Sandra Boynton
Activity: Attend Festival of Lights Parade

 
We were a little off in our day 2 planning so look for that later this week.

Preparing for Advent

I obviously haven't been keeping up with the blogging plan.  Oops.  There are so many more important things in my life to do than write on my blog.  Maybe someday I'll have the time.  And of course I started this way back on the 9th, but the girls woke up and I never got around to just taking the picture.  Then once I got the picture it wasn't behaving when I tried to add it.  But here it is.

We've been busy lately, and this is a project that I HAVE to get ready sooner than later.  I have seen so many "to do in December" lists on Pinterest lately, and just as many "Advent" calendars (some more Christ-centered, some more of a countdown).  Melodi loves reading and I've seen a couple people have a stack of 24 wrapped books and they read one each day.  I love connecting books with activities and had seen a couple of those ideas, along with the straight activity list.  Links to most of my inspiration can be found at the end of this post.

Over the last couple months I've been creating a list of books to get because I had activity ideas to go with them, probably not the best way to go about it.  I must have been talking with someone about this project and thought about the second hand store.  Well, one of the local ones (it has an amazing book selection) got raided this week.  It's right next to Melodi's school so it made for a nice trip after I dropped her off.  You should see the haul I made.

I got 25 books for $49.68 (they're not all Christmas, and not all Christmas ones will get used this year).  That's $2 per book!  Some of the books don't have an original price on them, but of the 11 Christmas books that had original prices on them I saved $74.23.  Talk about an amazing deal, I saved more on 11 books than I spent on 25.

Today, while the girls are napping, I'm getting a chance to look at the books and read through some of them.  One of the hardest parts about Christmas is keeping the focus where it belongs: on Jesus.  I'm so happy that I came away with some good Christ-centered books, and a few of them are REALLY good.  Also, that more of my books are not about Santa and are either about Christ, or about something Christmas or winter.  Sure we'll read the classic "The Night Before Christmas," I got a Lift-The-Flap version, but not every book is going to be Santa.