a peek inside the fishbowl

27 Nov, 2011

The 2011 edition of the Fishbowl Christmas Countdown Calendar

Posted by andrea tomkins in: Challenge me, challenge you|Easy ways to make kids happy

a.k.a. The Family Advent Calendar
a.k.a. 25 days of Christmas

Oh man. I’m not ready for this:

25days

For those of you who aren’t in the know, many moons ago I started a new tradition with my family. Instead of buying a chocolate advent calendar I decided to surprise the girls with one Christmas-related activity everyday throughout the month of December; a fun task, seasonal event, or craft. No chocolate, no shopping, and no cheap gifts — just family time.

You can read more about how to make your own advent calendar, get some ideas about some activities to do, and read more about why this has been such an awesome family tradition at least year’s post about it.

I’ve been doing this for many years now (I think this will be the fifth year?) and now that the girls are older I’m actually going to scale it down to 12 days. There won’t be any partridges in pear trees or golden rings to distribute (not to mention drummers drumming and maids a’milking), but I want to do something bigger for a shorter length of time this year. :)

If all goes well I will be photographing and writing about each of the activities we do for our twelve days. Care to join me? Either for 25 or 12? Let me know! Regardless of which you choose, if you tweet something related to this project please use #25daysofChristmas so I can follow your fun! Thank you!


19 Responses to "The 2011 edition of the Fishbowl Christmas Countdown Calendar"

1 | Lynn

November 27th, 2011 at 12:45 pm

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My post is already up! The kids would never let me get away without doing this. I even made a new advent calendar.

http://diaryofaturtlehead.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/christmas-is-coming/

2 | Brenda A.

November 27th, 2011 at 1:51 pm

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Great idea but this year I do not feel organized enough to tackle this! Look forward to ideas and inspirations for next year!

3 | Judy

November 27th, 2011 at 3:23 pm

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We are doing it again this year! All the activities are for my husband and son since I work so much more at the store in December, I don’t get home in time for any.

4 | Patricia

November 27th, 2011 at 10:00 pm

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After reading about it on your blog last year, I did it and my now 5 year old loved it! I didn’t do it every day (I have an advent calendar that is a wooden Christmas tree and every day you find an ornament to put on it, so I slipped them in with the ornaments). When she found one, even if it was as simple as singing a Christmas carol, she loved it! This year I’ve added in baking specific Christmas cookies. I think I’m up to about 20 days that we’ll be doing a Christmas activity. I know my almost 2 year old will start to get into the Christmas spirit with us too this year.

5 | Thank You Gifts For Him

November 28th, 2011 at 3:51 am

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I do this for my children and they love it! We are kicking it off by making handprint reindeers with big glittery red noses on thursday. So I really need to get my thinking cap on for the other 23 days! I have a few ideas already but with my children not being at school age yet we have lots of spare time to do fun crafts and they both really enjoy it.

6 | Sue

November 28th, 2011 at 8:16 am

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You helped us start a great tradition for the holidays. We are definitely doing this again this year.

7 | Sara

November 28th, 2011 at 10:51 am

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Love this idea – this will be our third year doing this and my kiddos are definitely anticipating it! This past weekend my 5 year old son said to me: “Can you please make sure making a gingerbread house is first in the advent messages?” I think I need to get more creative! :)

8 | FireMom

November 28th, 2011 at 12:25 pm

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I’m in! Our post is up as of a few minutes ago. it was labor intensive. lol http://stopdropandblog.com/2011/11/28/our-advent-season-activities-and-book-list-for-2011/

9 | Advent Activities 2011 « Mom PhD

November 30th, 2011 at 1:46 pm

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[…] holidays treats (shortbread, pebernødder, bark). Thanks to the Andrea at A Peak inside the Fishbowl for the inspiration to make an actual list! GA_googleAddAttr(“AdOpt”, “1”); […]

10 | Jayda

November 30th, 2011 at 1:49 pm

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Just in the nick of time! http://jaydamomphd.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/advent-activities-2011/
I love these little activities/challenges you post. Thanks!

11 | Sara

December 1st, 2011 at 10:14 am

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We are back and ready for another 25 days of fun :) Thanks Andrea!

http://mypointsofview.ca/2011/12/01/twenty-five-days-of-christmas/

12 | CanadianParents.com Blogs

December 2nd, 2011 at 10:52 am

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[…] DIY Advent calendars. If you feel 25 days of Advent seems too ambitious, take a note from Andrea at Peek Inside the Fishbowl and scale it back to a more do-able 12 […]

13 | Advent activity #1 - a different kind of Christmas tree decorating >> a peek inside the fishbowl

December 6th, 2011 at 12:04 pm

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[…] This post is part of my 25 days of Christmas advent activities, although I’m actually doing only 12 this year. Read more about that here. […]

14 | Starting our 25 Days of Christmas « Ali's Adventures

December 7th, 2011 at 11:34 pm

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[…] joined in with Andrea and her 25 Days of […]

15 | Advent Activity #4 - Oliver at the NAC >> a peek inside the fishbowl

December 14th, 2011 at 11:50 am

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[…] This post is part of my 25 days of Christmas advent activities (although I’m actually doing only 12 this year). You can read more about the countdown calendar idea here. […]

16 | Advent activity #5 - sappy things and sweet things >> a peek inside the fishbowl

December 15th, 2011 at 10:39 am

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[…] This post is part of my 25 days of Christmas advent activities (although I’m actually doing only 12 this year). You can read more about the countdown calendar idea here. […]

17 | Advent activity #? and #? - the birthday dog runs free >> a peek inside the fishbowl

December 19th, 2011 at 9:11 am

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[…] This post is part of my 25 days of Christmas advent activities (although I’m actually doing only 12 this year). You can read more about the countdown calendar idea here. […]

18 | Advent activity #8 - Puppy birthday parties >> a peek inside the fishbowl

December 20th, 2011 at 9:18 am

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[…] This post is part of my 25 days of Christmas advent activities (although I’m actually doing only 12 this year). You can read more about the countdown calendar idea here. […]

19 | Advent activity #3 - Ottawa family fun at Funhaven (a review you will want to read) >> a peek inside the fishbowl

February 25th, 2013 at 10:25 am

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[…] This post is part of my 25 days of Christmas advent activities (although I’m actually doing only 12 this year). You can read more about the countdown calendar idea here. […]

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The Obligatory Blurb

My name is Andrea and I live in the Westboro area of Ottawa with my husband Mark and our dog Piper who is kind of a big deal on Instagram. We also have two human offspring: Emma (24) and Sarah (22). During the day I work as a writer at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre. I am a longtime Ottawa blogger and I've occupied this little corner of the WWW since 1999. The Fishbowl is my whiteboard, water cooler, and journal, all rolled into one. I'm passionate about healthy living, arts and culture, travel, great gear, good food, and sharing the best of Ottawa. I also love vegetables, photography, gadgets, and great design.

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