december box

A friend of mine told me about this tradition when my firstborn was a baby, and it’s something that we’ve been doing for five years now. It has quickly become something that my kids and I look forward to every year. The first rule of thumb… There are no rules. You can totally do this however you please, but this is what we do!

On December first our Elf on the Shelf named Bob leaves a box for my kids to wake up to called the “December Box.” It includes:

-A new pair of Christmas pajamas. (We get them on Christmas Eve too but it’s been more fun giving festive ones on the first so they can wear them all month long.)

-Christmas books. This seems overwhelming but it’s not! We started out small and every year we add a few more. We use the same ones and just keep them in the box! It’s so fun to reread them every year. Some are ones I’ve had since childhood and I love that I can share them with my kids too!

-Activities. I always like to include a few cheap little activities that we can do during the month on cold days. A craft kit, Christmas legos, games, etc. It makes the month so much fun.

-We also have a little tykes nativity that we keep in there as well and set it up on the day we open the box.

I hope this gives you some ideas for some new traditions you can start as a family. Kids at Christmas are the absolute best!

xoxo, Alex