the countdown, has just begun…

…so shout it out who’s number 1? 5,4,3 2 1, Falcons number 1!!  Did anyone else have that cheer in high school?  It’s permanently etched in my brain, you know, from being captain of the cheerleading squad and all (toot toot…that’s my own horn).  Anyway, it’s officially time to start counting down until Christmas...which is way crazy to me…so I decided 3 days ago that throwing together a hand sewn and whimsical advent calendar is TOTALLY the sane thing to do!!  YEAH!

It actually turned out a lot better than I expected!  I wanted a kids crafty look, but I was afraid it would look totally botched and wonky.  Because I wanted that Willy Wonka whimsy look I cut all the squares by eye.  No templating, just free form.  Cuz I’m dangerous like that.  I was initially going to hand sew all the squares to get that really crafted look, but MAN that took forever!!  I ended up running all the squares through the sewing machine, which made is harder to see if I was getting something straight or whatnot, but it turned out pretty much the way I pictured!

I hung this right on the stairs where the kids can kind of reach it, but still safe from the littlest of hands that don’t quite know that NO means NO.  It’s also the first thing you see when you walk in the door of the house, and it really sets the mood for our colorful décor this year.  This Christmas is all about fun for us, and I really think that this advent calendar screams that!  Plus, it’s their first one EVER…and Hunter is a numbers FREAK…so this should be fun!

So now it’s just time to stuff ‘em and to start the countdown!  Hunter’s already asked me about the “treats” that are in there…and I’ve told him that you can only pick the treats AFTER naps…but only IF you’ve picked up all your toys.  Yes…I’m using these to my advantage, too.  Should be a fun (and tidy!) Christmas!!!  Yay!!