Celebrating Giftmas with the Advent Calendar

Cheesy Advent Calendar

I hate Christmas.  Growing up, it was a time guaranteed to bring out the worst in my parents who often would fight it out on Christmas Eve over how much money mom could spend on presents for us.  (We won't even get into the fiasco that was the years my father bought presents).

But now that I have rug rats of my own, I am constantly trying to find ways to celebrate the season in a way that both honors the birth of a man who preached peace and doesn't leave the kids feeling like they missed out on the Giftmas side of things.  This year my six year old is spending Xmas with his father, so it was even more of a challenge, especially since my spoiled little man really doesn't need two Christmases worth of toys.  That's were Cheesy Advent Calendar, purchased from big box craft store came in.   

I've spent the last few weeks scouring the Interwebs looking for Advent ideas as a way of celebrating without focusing entirely on the getting side of things.  Ideas out in the World Wide Web were sparse (it seems that a lot of people punted after coming up with a dozen or so ideas), so I'm going to post my list here.  The cool thing about the advent is that it can tailored to any family's specific ideas and beliefs fairly easily, as well as the age of the children involved.  I'm hoping to add a lot of service projects on to my calendar as my son grows.  This year is very craft heavy, and we may end up as epic craft fails, but hopefully all little man will remember is that we tried.

Our Advent Calendar (edited to add the results of each activity)

*1  Read the story of Baby Jesus and make a Nativity (was strangely excited at the idea that Jesus had a birthday....very insistant that Mary be significantly taller than Joseph....)
2  Decorate tree and drink hot chocolate with marshmallows (Little man refused the hot chocolate, of course)
3  Watch a Charlie Brown Christmas (He wasn't impressed at first, but it won him over by the end)
4  Buy a toy for a needy child  (He was confused by this, so maybe next year....)
5  Build a Plane Workshop (He loves these and they're free!)
6  Make Snowman pictures (This was an epic craft fail)
7  Read the Polar Express (Loved it)
8  Take Christmas tree pictures  (Put up with holding his sister in his lap for about 15 minutes)
9  Sing Christmas songs (never got around to organized singing, though he burst out in song many times)
10 St Nicholas Day (traditionally celebrated 6 December) (this confused him)
11 Go see a movie (Went to see Rise of the Guardians--we all loved it)
12 Salt Dough Ornaments (we ended up going with shrinky dinks because it looked cooler)
13 Make Christmas cards (this was a mixed bag....the child happily made cards...in pink, blue and purple)
14 Look at the Lights (The biggest hit of all of the ideas, he loved this, especially since we went to an organized display)
15 Visit Santa (He was very excited and actually smiled for the camera!)
16 Make Paper snowflakes (never got around to this) 
17 Read The Best Christmas Pagent Ever (never got around to this)  
18 Make Gingerbread crayons (ran out of time)
19 Make peppermint bark  (epic cooking fail)
20 Make gingerbread cookies (cheated and made chocolate chip instead)
21 Watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas (I found the man-child watching the DVD in his room before we could all get together to watch it....he loved it anyways and watched it four times)
22 Make wrapping paper (didn't happen :(  )
23 Reighndeer ornament (Also didn't happen)
24 wrap presents (this became mommy wrap....oh well....)

*I had to adjust our calendar to match up with little man's Christmas vacation, so we are actually starting our calendar on the 27th of November.
       
           
               

What to do when your Tarot reading predicts something horrible

The other day I ran across a question someone asked on a Tarot forum that's fairly common.  The person had sat for a reading and their reader told them that the cards predicted they'd be physically assaulted sometime in the next few weeks. To me, this type of reading smacks of scam for so many reasons It's an unfortunate but sad reality that there are a lot of people in this business out there to scam people.  Some signs your reader is attempting to scam you:

• He/she predicts something terrible for you in a very specific time period
• Why is this a scam?  Tarot cards are like forecasts--they speak of what is likely to happen if you continue on the path you are on.  Just like other forecasts, they are not 100% accurate--everyone has free will and can change their path as they wish.  Additionally, Tarot tend to be vague when asking for specific dates.  I've had my best luck with giving out general time periods--like the season--when something will happen.
• He/she tells you that something bad is going to happen one or two cards into the reading.
• While this isn't always the case, the vast majority of Tarot spreads start off by examining the current situation or the past.  Its very rare that a spread will discuss the future a card or two into the reading.
• He/she offers spells/charms to ward off whatever bad thing is approaching
• In and of itself there is nothing wrong with someone selling spells or charms.  However, it should set off alarm bells if the reader "just happens to have" the spell or charm available to ward off whatever they claim is approaching.  Especially if the fee is a substantial one.
• He/she tells you that you are cursed and offers to fix it, for a fee
• This one always gets me because oftentimes the person didn't come to the reader knowing or thinking he or she was cursed--so how are they going to fix a problem that didn't exist to begin with?

It's entirely natural to feel weird or uneasy when going for your first reading.  But trust your gut.  If you feel like the reader is trying to sell you more than you want or need, politely decline.  You are under no obligation to return to them for additional reading, spells or charms.  Don't become the poor soul who returns week after week out of fear.  They are not the only one who can help, and oftentimes the help you may need will be available for free or can be done on your own.   In the end, there is nothing wrong with readers getting paid fairly for their time and expertise, but no one should ever part with their hard earned money out of fear.