Advent Calendar 2011: A Shadowbox Spectacular

shadowbox2011

One of my favourite childhood Christmas traditions was my mother’s Advent Chain. On the first day of Advent, a simple chain of interconnected red and green construction paper loops would appear in the kitchen doorway.  Each day, my brother and I would tear a loop off of the bottom of the chain to reveal a new family activity. Among our favourites were “Baking Cookies” and “Taking Pictures with Santa.”  Over the Advent season, our chain would grow smaller and smaller, until a single loop was left on Christmas Eve. It usually read, “Leave Cookies for Santa.  {And, try to have a good sleep!}”

A few years ago, I renewed this tradition with my kids, creating a re-usable chain of scrapbook paper loops with numbered fasteners (pictured above) into which I inserted smaller slips of paper listing a daily family activity (pictured at left).  The chain was a hit. And we’ll use it to decorate the house for the holidays.  This year, however, we wanted to try something new.

Here’s what we came up with:

At a local “Home Sense”-style store,  we purchased a clearance-aisle shadowbox frame .  The front glass door operates on hinges and is secured to the box by a magnet, so that you can open and close the shadowbox like a book. Beneath this glass door, the box has a soft “pin board” style backing. The frame came with the pearl pins you see securing the red paper to the backing.

Advent begins tomorrow, November 27, 2011.  Each day, on The Lunchbox Season, we will post our family “thing to do.” And each day, we’ll try to use our shadow-box in an entirely different manner, sometimes writing our intentions on the glass with dry-erase markers, sometimes dangling a message from a hook on the interior pinboard, sometimes creating a “snow globe” or “jingle bell” filled backdrop for the daily imperative.

We hope you’ll follow along and enjoy celebrating Advent with us!!!

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2 Responses to Advent Calendar 2011: A Shadowbox Spectacular

  1. Writing Sisters November 26, 2011 at 4:58 pm #

    Fun ideas. So glad to find you.

    • Roseanne Carrara November 27, 2011 at 8:36 am #

      I hope you enjoy the whole season of Advent posts!!! Thanks for connecting!