Oh Nos Christmas post already!

I'm even quicker than the grocery stores get ready for the Christmas post in October!

I'm posting this because this is something I collect throughout the year.

My best friend had an amazing wooden advent calendar filled with candy and wind up toys when she was little and earrings and money when she was older. I swore when I had my own kids I would do this.

If you go out in November and buy all the stuff there will be nothing left and will end up selling your appliances and blood to pay for anything else. Instead, when you are at a consignment store get  couple of books for $.50 or make doll dresses or little toys and by November you will have an awesome collection.

Spencer thinks this post is an awful idea. It's too grand and we should save it all for christmas and not get a gift a day and blah blah blah, sometimes I tune out after the first sentence. 
I married Scrooge. I kid you not he use to yell at neighborhood kids to "get off his lawn."
Replace model trains for transformer toys and you've got the classic grumpy old man.

I got this drawer organizer at Michael's. I bought this and some extra boxes. 

I filled the boxes with Trader Joe's Chocolate coins.

 These toys were all given to me by my 2nd mother Liz. She collected these through the year for Adia and showed me how to do this.

I covered them with tissue paper and little cutouts I made with a cricut machine. 

This year my kids will share it. It will be half books and a couple of movies with boxes with candy in-between.

Here is an example of a advent calendar of books http://sarahjanestudios.com/blog/2010/11/childrens-book-advent-calendar/