Countdown Calendar #2!

I had plans to include a few activity cards like these on my original calendar (above) for certain days:

  It would have looked like this:

But then I read this post written by the incredibly creative and upbeat Organizational Queen Jen, from IHeart Organizing.  It's all about the holiday countdown she came up with for her family:

via

While my 'activity cards' would have worked out just fine (especially since neither of our kids can read quite yet...they still would have had daily surprises:)), I just loved the idea of having our kiddos open up a surprise envelope every day!  There is something about the tangible countdown that is so great for young kids!  Since Jen included a link for a printable version of her cards, I simply printed them off on red card stock:

And we tweaked some of them to best suit our family:

I emptied our 'remote control basket' from our great room to hold the envelopes: 

Let the Countdown (#1) Begin!

We didn't start either countdown until Saturday morning, so we had some catching up to do:

We hung candy canes.

And wrote letters to Santa.

Lucky asked for a flower, a drum and a cat.  She also wrote 'surprise' because she wants to be surprised with any other presents.  So adorable!  We also played a game together and the kids got to eat a candy cane:).  We are loving the activity countdown already and it's only been a few days.  I think it's so easy for the holidays to slip by before you have the chance to do all the things you want.  With an activity per day, we'll stay on track and make this Christmas a magical one to remember!!

And having two calendars is especially working out well for us this year because Lucky and Charm each get to do something special every day...either open an envelope or hang an ornament!  The arrangement is perfect for competitive kiddos like mine:)!

Is anyone else counting down the days to Christmas with a calendar?  Or two?:)