Getting ready for a Montessori Christmas!

Some fellow Montessori bloggers are putting together some posts on their Christmas ideas for this year and am super happy to join them. Below my post you’ll find links to their great ideas too.

Getting ahead on the Christmas shopping

I was reading a blog post last week (sadly I don’t remember which one) and the person was sharing that they did all their Christmas shopping – and had it wrapped – by the end of November. I thought this idea was genius. I am so going to try to do this! Anyone want to join me? We’ll be the smug ones ice-skating and enjoying hot chocolate on Christmas eve :).

December has a way of just slipping through your fingers and it’s hard to slow down to enjoy it all.

So to get you started, here is a super duper Christmas post for you!

1. Make an Advent calendar

I have shared in past years how much we love to make our own Advent calendar. I have been doing this for around 5 years and the kids are still asking if we can do it again.

I buy 24 craft envelopes and decorate them with the numbers 1 – 24. These are hung from some baking twine with small pegs along our front windows. One year I even sewed some bunting from Christmas fabric and added felt pockets.

Then make a list of all our favourite Christmas things to do together, write each idea on a paper slip, and pop one in each pocket.

Here are some ideas:

1. Eat oliebollen (a Dutch donut)
2. Make Christmas cookies
3. Take a photo with the Christmas lights
4. Go iceskating at Museumplein
5. Decorate the Christmas tree
6. Put on Christmas music
7. Write Christmas cards
8. Make paper snowflakes

Get the idea?

2. Santa sacks

Even though my kids are well beyond believing in Santa Claus, I still find it fun to put together a small stocking of presents which they find on their beds on Christmas morning.

We keep it pretty simple but generally I put in:

* something to eat
* something to make
* something to read
* something to play with
* some cute stationery for school

As we live in Amsterdam, there may also be something fun for their bike too, or something that they need.

3. Christmas presents

We have Christmas lunch together and then open presents from under the Christmas tree. The kids are lucky to get presents from the family and we generally buy one larger gift.

Last year I put together some ideas for presents for young ones. I would still recommend these toys so pop over here to get some fun ideas for your kids:

* Montessori Gift Guide, Part 1 of 4 – Babies

* Montessori Gift Guide, Part 2 of 4 – 1 to 2 year olds

* Montessori Gift Guide, Part 3 of 4 – 2 to 3 year olds

* Montessori Gift Guide, Part 4 or 4 – Preschoolers

My kids are now 14 and 12 years old and still like to play with Lego. Keep them young eh. They have an idea to turn the attic into a Lego world so I’m going to add another set to their collection. You can’t have too much Lego, can you?

Hope you enjoy the silly season as much as I do. I would love to hear about the rituals you are developing for your kids and any great gift ideas too.

Ho ho ho!