25 Simple Ways to Count Down to Christmas

Does manufacturing the Christmas season magic seem a job too momentous for a mortal parent like you? Although Santa’s elves may not deliver pixie dust from the North Pole to help you, don’t despair! You can orchestrate a very merry—and magical—season that’s as simple as you make it to be. Here are 25 simple ways to count down to Christmas that you can pick and choose from based on the ages and interests of your children and family.

1. Make a family bucket list. This can be as simple as a list, or let your kids help make a poster with as much detail as they would like to add. (Bonus points because it can keep them busy on those long, dark evenings leading up to the 25^th of December!) Then, use this list as a casual countdown, as time permits, for the activities you’ve listed.
2. Gina Tireman, mother of two, has an excellent way to use up any leftover Halloween candy. “When my kids were little, we made a countdown to Christmas by using their Halloween candy to make ‘candy chains,’” she says. “We strung them over their doorways, and each day they could have one piece of their Halloween candy as they counted down to Christmas.” If your kids have devoured their candy already this year, add this idea to your calendar now to remember next year!
3. Advent calendars are an easy way to count down with tons of variety! Rebecca Shields, mother of two, says her children keep the Christmas spirit alive even as they get older. “We have an Advent calendar with little drawers. Each day the kids get Lego pieces to build a Christmas Lego set. They are now 15 and 12 and still look forward to their annual Christmas Lego build!” We have done this before, but this year I may ask my older son to come up with his own to build with his younger brother.
4. “Our church has a workshop for families to make a ‘Jesse Tree.’ You can Google various ways to make one. Through the season of Advent, each day has a Bible story from creation to Easter,” says Julie Ulven, mother of one. We went to this same church and have done our Jesse Tree for 11 years now! I also love the Advent books by both Tsh Oxenreider and Ann Voscamp.
5. Amanda Ingram, mother of three, has a few countdowns that her family does each year. “We do an Advent calendar, Hershey Kiss-a-day strand, a countdown ornament from Hallmark and a felt magnetic Christmas tree with an ornament each day leading up to Christmas.” 
6. Carrie Leibold, mother of two, has a fun twist on the Advent Calendar. “We have an Advent calendar with pockets we fill mostly with activity coupons we make up, like 30 minutes of iPad time, 60 minutes of TV time, you pick the restaurant, you pick the movie for family movie night and trips to see Christmas light displays. When they were younger, I would make coupons to go to indoor playgrounds at Chick-fil-A, Burger King and Scheels. They thought those were so great, and it was a great way for them to burn energy and keep me sane! I also put in small items from the dollar store or $1 bills. I tried to avoid candy because they got so much of it during the holidays.” Another great surprise Leibold includes in some of the pockets are “Get Out of Chore” coupons, such as no dinner cleanup or skip unloading the dishwasher. 
7. Kristina Light, mother of four and KCParent.com digital media manager, says, “I wrap Christmas books, and we read one a day.” We have always done this at our house too, but I happened upon a large red cloth bag one year and, ever since, have had my kids take turns drawing a book from the bag without peeking, instead of unwrapping them. If you don’t own 25 Christmas picture books, go ahead and place some holds on some library books to pick up!
8. If your kids are aging out of the picture book tradition, move on to reading Scripture telling the Christmas story or a fun holiday-themed chapter book or even doing a holiday-themed Mad Lib each night together at dinner. 
9. Take part in a candy cane countdown as mentioned on KCEdventures.com: “No, this is not about eating a candy cane—instead, grab one each day and leave it as a surprise! Treat the person bagging your groceries, use it as a 'sweet' thank you, slide it on a windshield at the grocery store –it’s a fun way to spread some holiday cheer!” We would probably take turns each day for a family member to choose who to gift the candy cane to for the day.
10. Another fun thing Light does with her family is to incorporate ornaments into the Advent season. “We have an Advent calendar of spiritual ornaments that tell the story of Jesus' birth day by day,” she says.
11. Spread holiday cheer like Jessi Cole, mother of three. She says, “Our elf brings an act of kindness to do each day up until Christmas Eve.” That’s a good way to make those naughty elves have a positive impact over the holidays. But make a list well ahead of time, so you’re not scrambling last minute and adding stress to the season. Collaborate with friends or do a quick search to have ideas at the ready.
12. Plan your holiday treats leading up to Christmas or plan a baking day! If you’d rather just cut and bake with your kids, go ahead and make the dough ahead of time to cut down on any stress you may have baking with young kids. You can plan a quiet day with your immediate family, make it an extended family tradition or plan a cookie exchange with your neighbors or friends.
13. Santa’s beard and cotton ball countdown is a fun one for the younger crowd and can mark the time till Christmas, as well as when you plan to visit Santa. Appointments may be necessary, so if this is something that’s important to your holiday season, plan ahead!
14. Your family might enjoy making a Friday night tradition of visiting a new place to drive around and look at Christmas lights each week. Make sure to visit the light show at Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead and check out the “Best Christmas Light Displays” on KCParent.com for more locations. “We do a Christmas light bucket list and check them off through the season,” Cole says. “We try to do a few ‘light tours’ with hot chocolate too.”
15. Color some holiday coloring sheets or make cards for local nursing homes. Send some to all your grandparents to brighten their trip to their mailbox each week. As your kids get older, maybe plan a few fun and more elaborate crafts to do together leading up to Christmas.
16. For more of a craft countdown, consider adding a new decoration to your tree each night or week, such as stringing popcorn, stringing cranberries, making construction paper chains or crafting a new ornament. Craft stores have great kits!
17. Plan your holiday movies! This is always a fun tradition to rewatch family favorites as well as any new movies you’d like to see. December has a tendency to fly by, so planning which movies you’d like to watch and putting them on the family schedule can help make sure you’re enjoying the holidays as you wish to. Molly Hautman says, “I make a list of 25 Christmas movies every year and watch one a day starting Dec. 1 until Christmas Day!”
18. Another way to incorporate the sounds of the season is to make a music countdown of your favorite holiday albums, artists and songs. Perhaps you rotate days throughout the week of who gets to choose the day’s holiday music. Whether you’re one that begins listening when you taste that first PSL from Starbucks or patiently wait until the first of December, it’s nice to make time to actually listen to your favorite albums and playlists. This year, I plan to schedule one night to listen in candlelight together as a family, now that my kids are getting older.
19. Discover and try a new tradition based on your family’s history. Make use of those DNA tests we’ve all received over the past few years and make an old tradition new to your family. I found the book The Tomtes' Christmas Porridge by Sven Nordqvist a couple of years ago, and it’s sparked a fun way to incorporate our heritage in a way we hadn’t previously. We now leave out rice pudding for the tomtes to say thank you for their help throughout the year.
20. In a similar vein, try other cultures’ holiday traditions. For example, some families celebrate St. Nicholas Day on Dec. 6 by leaving their shoes out for St. Nicholas to leave presents in. Try one new culture each week to learn about Christmas around the world.
21. Maybe counting down from 25 days is a bit much this season, so maybe your family can do a “12 Days till Christmas” countdown instead. When my husband and I were first married, I started leaving him a little treat and note for the 12 days leading up to Christmas, and it’s been going on now for 14 years! Now our kids pretend to be our little elves to do our special deliveries for us each day, and I think it’s a sweet memory for them and helps them focus on the fun of giving to others.
22. Speaking of giving to others, maybe your family’s countdown can be completely others-focused. Try planning a Random Acts of Kindness (or RAK) countdown. Some ideas include serving at a foodbank, delivering cards or gifts to neighbors, packing a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child, choosing an Angel Tree child to purchase gifts for or adding an item of food to a box you donate to your local food bank for Christmas. Again, if daily countdowns ask too much, make it a weekly, monthly or annual countdown to work best for your family.
23. Try a minimalist countdown. I know I struggle with all the new things coming into our house during this season! Each day, have the family or each member toss or donate an item no longer needed to help clear clutter over the holiday season.
24. Make a garland of photos from past Christmases to hang on your mantle or staircase to remember moments from previous years. You could just do pictures of your kids as they’ve grown, or you could add some more fun by adding some of yourselves when you were kids too!
25. If your kids are aging out of some of the countdowns aimed at the younger crowd, let them help you prepare a countdown of Christmas-themed Minute to Win It or other games to play each night in December. (Hint: Pinterest has a ton of ideas!)

Remember that traditions are up to you, and your Christmas magic might not include any of the ideas listed here. Also keep in mind that if you’ve tried something in the past that wasn’t anyone’s favorite, you can skip it this year and try something new that might become an annual tradition. Otherwise, maybe it’s your family’s tradition to try something new each year! Also, schedule downtime as well. The holiday season can be a frenzied time filled with overstimulation for both you and your kids, so make sure you have some days left open to just be and try to stick to a normal routine as much as possible. Wishing you a calm and enjoyable holiday season this year!

Stephanie Loux is the mother of Layla, 11, Mason, 9, and Slade, 6, and is looking forward to testing out some new ideas this year as her children keep insisting on growing up.