Countdown to Christmas Advents

I don't remember ever doing a Christmas Advent growing up so I'm not really sure what inspired me to do one with my kids, but I love it! Last year we started doing Christmas/Winter books under the tree and I plan on doing that for many years to come, but this year I added a second advent to the mix. I didn't want the girls to fight over who got to open the present each night so I decided to do a second advent that was also opening a present.

The second one uses the same tree we used for our Thankful Tree only I swapped out the leaves for tiny little cups holding presents. Each present has a little bite size candy bar for each of us so they could eat a little treat while we read a bed time story. Of course, we had to change up our routine so they brushed their teeth after books instead of before. But we have all enjoyed the change up in our nightly routine. In fact, Shasta practically begs for it to be bedtime. As soon as Shelby wakes up from her nap, Shasta will ask me if it's time for bed. At 7pm we start getting ready for bed and by 8pm at the latest they're tucked away in their beds without a fight. I definitely can't complain!

Eventually, probably next year, I'll put numbers on each of the cups so we can do an actual countdown, but this year I didn't bother with it. Shasta doesn't recognize numbers so it would have been more of a hassle to try to get her to pick the right cup than just letting her pick whichever one she wanted.