The Real Reason

My mother always did Advent for her grandchildren until they reached 13 years of age. She made little gift bags and each year they were filled with erasers, candy, hot chocolate, socks and other little gifts counting down the 24 days until Christmas.

She passed in October 2010 but had everything purchased ready for Advent for that coming Christmas. That was very special to my almost 11 and 12 year old children to be able to celebrate Christmas with Grandma even though she was spending hers in heaven, celebrating with her Saviour. This year I wanted to do something to continue on the tradition for our youngest who is coming up 12.

I saw this kit made by Kaiser Craft and decided that this would be perfect.
It came with MDF pieces that needed to be painted and assembled. Then there were little chipboard numbers that needed to be decorated. Sorry about the pic - I need a better camera!
Then the little chipboard 'drawers' needed to be folded, fastened and decorated.
Then I made a trip to BulkBarn! :) I bought candy treats for each day. I saw these 'Grandma' candies and I squealed in delight. My grandmother always had a dish of these 2 kinds of hard candy at Christmas time. She passed away in 1990 and I honestly don't know if I've had these candies since then. So two of the drawers contain these candies.

All finished!
And much to the delight of the older five children still living at home, there is candy in each drawer for them too!
No matter how old we are, it is fun to celebrate the Reason. Beyond the fun, we have great joy and gratitude for our Saviour and that is the real reason for our celebrations.