Christmas Countdown

We love our advent devotions, but the kids also look forward to a tradition that we have had for years- a chocolate (usually right after breakfast) each day. In the past, we have purchased Trader Joe's calendars, but this year I decided to make our own "hugs and kisses" countdown from an idea I found in Lisa Welchel's The Adventure of Christmas: Helping Children Find Jesus in Our Holiday Traditions.
                                                                                                                                                              
It was difficult to take pictures that did them justice, but these are candy hugs and candy kisses wrapped in cling wrap with ribbon tied between each candy. Each day the kids get to cut one piece of candy off the bottom.

After attempting to assemble these by myself, I called in the troops-  Paul and Mark helped to tie and curl ribbon while Erin created a ribbon hanger for each one. This was just a bit more time consuming than I anticipated! James' helped a little too, but mostly was just happy to demonstrate how long the hanging countdown candies are. :)