Day #2: Advent Calendar

Welcome to day #2 of the "12 Days of a DIY Christmas" series & link party! I have enjoyed looking at your projects that you've been linking up!  Just now joining us? No problem! Get caught up here:

Introducing "12 Days of a DIY Christmas" {Series & Link Party}
The "What" "How" & "Why" of Link Party
Day #1: Faux Mercury Glass Ball Ornaments

Not all the projects that I am sharing with you will be as time intensive as yesterday's! I want to share with you today about the Advent Calendar that I made with the girls that I nanny {Well, only the 3 year old helped. The 1 year old watched :) }.

For the longest time, I didn't exactly know what an Advent calendar was. I knew it was supposed to have a lot to do with Christ coming to earth, but I wasn't sure what was "supposed" to be opened every day or the story behind it {I'm sorry, Mom, if you told me}. After some digging, I understood more of the purpose and history of the Advent calendar. I am not going to go into all of that here, but I was reminded by this little research project to help preserve the true meaning of Christmas and to teach it to the younger generation. The Advent Calendar is such a neat way to teach our kids about Christ coming to earth to die for us! If we give gifts at Christmas, it should be to remind us that God gave the ultimate gift of His Son.

In our little calendar, we are putting verses of the Christmas story {Luke 2}, pieces of our nativity scene {little window decals}, songs to teach them, and some candy {to keep them interested!}. We aren't starting ours until tomorrow {Monday}, and I can't wait!

I don't really have a step-by-step tutorial for you because it's so easy! However, feel free to ask questions in the comments!

They already had this awesome chalkboard in their living room which is normally used for their art projects and school papers. I took everything down and hung 8 strands of yarn for the bags to hang on. I know there is supposed to be 25 bags, but it didn't fit :).

The 3 year old had a blast painting all of the clothes pins. I stenciled the numbers on there using black craft paint, and it was done! So easy!
Are you ready to join the link party? Remember: Any Christmas related blog post is game {recipes, crafts, Christmas family photos, family traditions, etc}. Be descriptive in your titles! 
The rules:
1.) You may link up a different blog post once every day for a total of 12 entries.
2.) You must submit a direct link to your post...not just to your blog's homepage.
3.) Your entry/entries may be submitted anytime between now and midnight on December 12th. 

Tweeting, pinning, "liking" & sharing on Facebook, instagraming, etc are not required for you to enter, but it would be awesome if you would do what you can to spread the word....whether you are entering a link or not.  Spread the love! :)

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