On the first day of Christmas...

Okay, so technically it isn't the first day of Christmas - but in this house, it is the first day all of the elves get to make merry with carols, get tizzy with tinsel and generally anticipate the birthday party of Jesus (the birthday party of Paris has been anticipated heavily for about a month already, and although Christ's birthday is only a few days later we have decided that we can anticipate both simultaneously - yeah, go us!!)

I put a shout out on my facebook page (yeah - I have a facebook page for the blog now - how very 2012ish of me, I know - you can even go directly to it and like it right here folks! *) asking what the first of December represented in the lead up to Christmas.

People FAR MORE ORGANISED than I (they do exist in abundance) advised me of boiling plum puddings and advent calendars (the excuse I used for that oversight was "I always forget them and so we get them (slightly cheaper) about a week later - chocolate high from catch up day and then the rest of the time explaining why you can't eat in advance..") and transgressions on the "no tree until 1/12" rule.

As I am incredibly crafty (but have an organisational gene mutation which means I plan much better in hindsight) I have decided that we are going to do a REVERSE ADVENT calendar here this year.

That is right - we are going to try and share/find/explore/discover something out there in the big bad world - real world or internetty - every single day...

The first thing that we found this morning was this:

Not hard to find when you live in  Paradise, and the good news is Paris can now walk all the way there by herself!  In fact, she can now walk there all by herself WITHOUT whinging!!

(I also learned that if you decide to walk with phone and water bottle only, you are missing something that is vital to swimming enjoyment without care - and that is the whole something to put  your phone and water bottle in while engaging in the whole swimming enjoyment malarkey.  Luckily, 'Salina and Paris have had me as a mother for a while now and can entertain themselves gainfully while waiting for Super V to come to the rescue...)

As we are set to do tree decorations today, it was apt that we also discovered upon our return from said beach (and amidst threat of Parisian meltdown) that there is an online advent calendar - fair enough, sans chocolate but with entertainment potential.  I figure if you are going to be annoyed by the shenanigans of this porcine entertainer snort, then you might as well let her entertain away from the idiot box for free.  The 2012 Peppa Pig Advent Calendar Courtesy of ABC for Kids 

Part of the whole "we are going to do tree decorations today" entails a meal plan - and tonight we are having burgers from the  local butcher on these Foccacia Hamburger Buns from Sarah Cucina Bella - a blog I just discovered courtesy of Google.

I also found (at a blog I have known for many a moon) some great crafty decorating ideas should I ever get my ducks lined up in a row: Ten Christmas Decorations from Picklebums

So - what are your rituals for Christmas, and are they triggered by a certain date? 

 

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* Disclaimer - for all of the spambots who think they might want to be my friend there as well as here, I will still delete your sorry butts and use you as fodder - capiche?