Christmas traditions

You may not know it, but Pack N Carry is first and foremost a family affair. I am a co-shareholder of the company with 2 of my children, they are 15 and 17 years old. The 3rd is not yet officially a co-shareholder because he is only 13 years old! But it will come if he wishes! There is also my spouse, who is also the father of our beautiful tribe. He is our loyal critic, supporter and jack of all trades. Without his support, nothing we do would be possible! In short, for every decision made in connection with Pack N Carry, a family council, involving 5 people, is behind this decision!

If I'm explaining all this to you, it's to make you understand that the most important value for us is family, blood or heart, it doesn't matter, as well as the good times spent together, the memories that we create and that enrich our lives.

Without knowing it, you are also part of our family. When you follow our social networks, leave positive feedback, place an order, etc. , you become part of our family, our discussions at dinner and you feed our dreams!

At the beginning of December (and after family consultation of course!), we want to share with you our favorite Christmas tradition. With us, this tradition begins on December 1...yes, it's the Advent calendar! But not just any, a "custom" calendar. It requires almost nothing. If you have a handmade Advent calendar with small drawers, so much the better, but if you don't, a simple box is enough. The idea is that the small drawers will be filled day by day to avoid small weasels and allow you to organize it according to your availability! A box in which you drop the idea of ​​the day every day will do the job very well.

Far be it from us to put extra pressure on you parents! Already there are elves, special school activities, gifts to think about, the whole family to satisfy with dinner reservations, etc. The Advent calendar should not be an extra mental burden, but rather a good time to spend every day, a pleasant time for you and your children.

So here's what we've been doing for the past 15 years: every day, I'd take 5 minutes to write the "gift" of the day on a little piece of paper and place it in our calendar drawer. After supper, the children were allowed to open the "door" to find out what was hidden inside. See them! they were so excited! The older one was reading aloud for the younger ones, so cute!

Here are some ideas of what my children could read on their small papers between December 1st and 23rd:

- tonight we're playing hide and seek

- tonight we're playing Pirate Attack (or another quick game, max 15 minutes, those from Lalita's Art Shop are really great)

-tonight we're doing a seek and find (the Christmas ones are quite fun!)

- tonight we drink hot chocolate with marshmallows and little candies

- tonight we're doing a puzzle

- tonight you have the right to go to bed 15 minutes later

- tonight I'll read you a story of your choice (1 per child)

- tonight we're watching a family show (Vive Ciné-Cadeau)

- tonight we go for a walk and look at the stars

-tonight is bath time (their favourite!)

- I hid something (a little chocolate) here are the clues to your treasure hunt.

and for really busy nights, when I didn't have time to write something or play something, I had a little secret stash of little chocolates and that's what they found in the "door" that night.

The idea is to take the time to put everything down, get off all our obligations for 15 minutes and take the time to be together, to break the eternal routine of fall, school, daycare, work, dodo. Yes, we could do it all year round, but it wouldn't be special anymore! So let's do it for at least 23 days!

Last night, 8 p.m., I was in my pajamas on my sofa, my teenagers came to ask me "Mom, did you make us an Advent calendar??" like what the traditions and memories it leaves, no matter how old they are, they need it!

I hope you have the chance to take the time this holiday season!

Catherine

I leave you a little memory of a past Christmas!