preparing little hearts for Christmas

Tonight I asked my 3 year old what Christmas was all about. I wasn’t expecting much, but his answer was “decorations.”

What can I say? I DO love to decorate for Christmas and the kid is very perceptive. But…I am hoping to teach them a little more this year.

I found this super cool wooden Advent calendar on Amazon last week and became obsessed with the possibilities.

I will admit my first inclination was little presents or treats or something along those lines. But then I remembered our  debates over the lingering Halloween candy and our overflowing toy boxes and thought better of that pretttty quickly.

So I turned to Google and was overwhelmed with great Advent calendar ideas for giving, doing random acts of kindness, contributing to charities, etc.

I knew I could get on board with this, but what about a 2 year old and a 3 year old?

Our youngest may not. But I sat down with them tonight and told them all about the real meaning of Christmas in ways they could understand.

I told them how we could fill these boxes up with little notes all about the reason for the season. It was part Bible story and part “our hearts will grow 3 sizes” a la The Grinch. And I think it clicked!

So we started brainstorming ideas for the box. I mentioned bringing cookies to our neighbors or sending hand drawn Christmas pictures in the mail. I asked what other things we could do that might make people happy.

Sam said “give people coats and houses!” I really don’t know where or how he picked up the concept that there are people cold and homeless. But I was shocked. He went on to explain that he wanted to buy a house for anyone without one…if only.

I asked what about people who are sick in the hospital, what could we get for them? His first answer made me laugh out loud….he said, “a doctor”.

He is a practical guy after all!

He also said they might want monkey blankies of their own! Monkey Blankie is a very special comfort item of Sam’s 🙂

I am looking forward to completing our list of 24 acts of kindness to prepare these little hearts for Christmas. I wanted to post about this with enough time for anyone else who wanted to join in to think about their list!

I should mention that Advent calendar I chose is project in itself. It’s raw wood so it’s a little something to craft. This seems completely unnecessary but I thought it was a neat thing to personalize or work on with the kids. No worries if that’s not your thing–you can find plenty of ready made options too.

I am planning to take advantage of some Black Friday deals and keep an eye out at Aldi for things like fuzzy socks, blankets, Poinsettias, etc. But, I should mention I am really not planning on this to cost much.

And that is one of the reasons I wanted to share it.

I really don’t think Christmas is about breaking the bank, even when giving back.

We plan to purge our old towels and blankets to give to the humane society, pick up liter, donate used books to our hospital’s children’s wing and used toys to our daycare, etc.

Anyone can do this, no matter the budget.

It doesn’t cost much to get in the Christmas spirit!

EDIT – you can find our full list HERE!