Each Holiday season I like to create an advent calendar. The focus is not necessarily a countdown to Christmas, rather a tool to help us enjoy the season. This year I took twenty five mini craft paper boxes and filled them with slips of paper listing an activity we can do together as a family. Then I glued a little bottle brush tree on top and tied it up with a ribbon. 

This year I made a concerted effort to not buy any new Christmas decorations. I already owned two boxes full, so I wanted to either rework what I had or make something new with items I had around the house. Between Pinterest, Instagram and blogs there is no shortage of daily inspiration coming to my inbox. 

Although our mountain passes have not received their typical amount of snow; there has been a lingering threat of snow in the forecast for Seattle. It reminds me of almost two years ago when four inches of snow was enough to shut down the city of Seattle completely. People basically freak out about snow around here when snow is in the forecast. With all the hills in Seattle it makes for some great city sledding if you have the time and the equipment.

As of late, the temperatures have stayed low and the sun has continued to shine. Cold, sunny days have turned into cool, clear starry nights. Being able to see my breathe always makes it feel like Christmas is near.

For a fun little hostess gift I like to make homemade hot chocolate stir sticks. They are really easy to make and are excellent last minute gifts.

Thanks to several big box stores, peppermint bark has become a mainstay around the holidays. Instead of creating the tried and true mint/chocolate combination why not play around with different flavor combinations?

Here is what we came up (from top left to bottom right): Peppermint Bark, Pistachio and Peanut Bark, Pretzel Peanut Bark, White Chocolate Chip, Pretzel and Graham Cracker Bark, Pistachio and Cranberry Bark and lastly Marshmallow, Peanut and Graham Cracker Bark.