I love Christmas. I love the music. I love the decorations. I love the gift-giving, cookie eating, movie watching, and Santa letter writing. I want to share all of the fun and merriment with my children. At the same time, I don’t want to completely lose the true meaning of Christmas. While I want my kids to get excited about Santa and decorating the tree, I also want them to understand that this is really a time for reflection, generosity, and selflessness. As such, I love the idea of reverse Advent calendars. Instead of receiving a daily treat, you perform some act of kindness. Reverse Advent calendars compel us to take a moment, each day, to pause from the materialistic aspects of Christmas and to instead consider how we can be more generous and kind.
But how to make one that my three-year old can understand and perform? It took a little creativity and some consulting with other moms to compile such a list. So, in the spirit of sharing, here are 25 Advent Acts of Kindness that even your toddler can do: