Advent for all ages

Who grew up with some kind of advent calendar? Maybe it was something as simple as a little bear moving through little pockets of a house with the date on them. Or something like this Grinch advent I made for my sister a couple years ago.

Maybe the "elves" visited and left a gift every day. How about the ones where you punch out the door and there's a chocolate behind it? Lot's of people do the 12 days of Christmas whether for their own family or as a service to another family. An advent calendar is a great way to create memories and connect with your kids.
As a new mom and a teacher, I'm starting this year with a family tradition of a reading advent calendar. You wrap 24 Christmas books and every day you get to unwrap one and read it together.
I hadn't really thought of any type of advent calendar to do with my bonus kids since they live so far away and will only be here for a week around Christmas.
A few days ago, their mom invited us to join them for her version of the 12 days of Christmas. It's a social media 25 days of Christmas. She has a calendar and each day you take a picture to represent what's on the calendar and tag each other in the post. For example, one day says "all that glitters". Each person would find something to take a picture of that goes with "all that glitters". It wouldn't be too difficult to come up with your own calendar. If you are religious, throw in a few more that focus on Christ. If religion isn't so much your thing, Christmas songs seem to be a good place to look for ideas.  I'll have a blue Christmas, Here Comes Santa Clause, Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, etc. She also put in a few that you could turn into an activity together like "C is for Christmas cookie". That would make for a great opportunity to make Christmas cookies together. If you are looking for a more service or Christ centered advent calendar I would recommend lighttheworld.org You can download a free calendar with Christ centered service ideas for the whole month. Three others that I really like are The Little Lamb from Bethlehem similar to Elf of the Shelf but more Christ centered with a little lamb you can move around, this 25 days of Christmas ornament set and this service centered manger.
Back to the social media 25 days of Christmas, I really love this idea because it allows my husband and I to participate even though we live so far away. I really appreciate that she thought to invite us to have this opportunity for a little more connection. You can follow along with our Instagram 25 days of Christmas here.