Sunday, December 4, 2011

12 Dates Of Christmas

John and I love spending time with each other - just like any other couple.
John and I also love watching TV and surfing the web and playing on our phones - just like any other person.

So we struggle with fighting to put our electronics away and having quality time with each other. It seems like quality time can often mean spending money. Gas is so expensive that even driving to our local park to walk seems to cost five dollars or so.

I decided to come up with a fun Christmas idea that would get us off the couch and not cost a lot of money. There are so many inexpensive and free things that you can do around Christmas time.

  • I cut out 12 flag shaped pieces of Christmas themed scrap book paper.
  • I hung them up with glittered clothes pins on a piece of twine.
  • On each of the flags I wrote a lyrics to a Christmas song or Christmas carol.
  • Each lyrics coordinated with a Christmas themed surprise.
  • For example : "The three words that best describe you are as follow, and I quote, stink stank stunk" from the Grinch. For this activity I got a free one day pass to our local gym. 
  • If John could the name of the song then he got the coordinating surprise.
  • I hung it up on December 1st and he gets to pick one each day (sometimes 2 cause I'm a sucker for him).

Some of them were easy like - "Feliz Navidad" for a date out at Mexican restaurant.

And some of them were harder to guess.

We have had so much fun making gingerbread houses, Christmas dinners and cookies, looking at lights, etc. And it has been so fun to watch John try and guess the songs on the flags.

Other than a few supplies and one date out we have had 12 really inexpensive dates that have gotten us in the Christmas spirit!
Next year John is going to do it for me and some day we will do it with our kids.

What fun Christmas traditions or activities do you do with your family?