WARNING! THIS POST IS NOT FOR CHILDREN!
My oldest child is three this Christmas and it’s a lot of fun because he’s finally beginning to understand Christmas and all of it’s traditions. Together we are really enjoying our advent calendar and the Elf on The Shelf. I find those Christmas activities to be a festive way to get your kids excited about Christmas while, giving them something fun to do during those exciting days before the big day. In the case of the advent calendar, I feel it’s a great way to give kids too young to understand the concept of time and patience a more concrete and visual way to count down the days until Santa arrives. Plus, I really enjoy the tradition of all of these activities around the holidays. That’s why I was really touched when my father-in-law presented my son with yet another super fun way to count down the days before Christmas.
He gave us this white bag:
Written on the bag (in my father-in-law’s distinguishable writing) was an explanation of what we’d find inside and directions on what to do with it. In case you can’t read it, here’s what it says:
Dear Griffin,
Inside this bag is a special Santa to help you know when Christmas is coming. You hang the Santa doll over your bed, then each night before you go to sleep, you untie one knot. When you see the last knot and untie it, that’s the night that Santa will come and the next morning when you awake, it will be Christmas. Love, Grandpa
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What a great idea!!! I had never heard of this before but apparently this is something my father-in-law did with my husband and something he did with his own father. When we opened the bag, here’s what we found:
A red take-out container and inside, we found this:
A piece of rope with seven knots tied (note, we untied our first knot last night).
As a mama, I was loving the tradition aspect of this activity and super touched that my father-in-law took to the time to make this incredibly detailed gift for my son. What a great way to countdown the days until Christmas or any event really. I could see this being a great way to count the days before Chanukah (use a blue or silver rope/ribbon) or a birthday. It truly is something special. We untied our first knot last night and my son is loving his countdown until Christmas. Who would have thought that a piece of rope with knots in it would make a kid so happy? And he loves it even more than any of our other countdown to Christmas contraptions.
What a great tradition to pass down to future generations and it doesn’t have to cost anything if you use what you have around the house. That certainly beats the $29.95 it costs to own one of those Elf on a Shelfs or a fancy advent calendar and it’s much more special because it’s handmade and from the heart. I get teary-eyed when I think about my son one day sharing this tradition with his own son or grandson and cannot help but be reminded that this is what the holiday season is really about-not money or fancy presents but time spent with family and friends, making memories and sharing your time.
Christina Stanley-Salerno is a mama, recipe developer, food stylist, photographer and blogger atTakeBackYourTable.com. She loves cooking for and with her family. Life is hectic, but Christina is passionate about mealtime because she believes that family meals are the glue that holds everyone together. Creating simple, quick and healthy meals is her specialty and her trick to keeping the family meal a reality, even on busy weeknights.
Follow her on Twitter @TakeBackTables