Advent for Dudes

WARNING: If your name starts with a J and ends with an onathan, stop reading now!  You hear me, Mister? ;)  

 Don't you love it when you actually follow through and do something that you've seen on Pinterest?  I thought some of you might enjoy replicating this little Advent calendar that I made for Jonathan.  My inspiration came from here: 

Source: thedatingdivas.com via Leslie on Pinterest

The point of this project is that so much of our effort during the holidays goes into making Christmas special for our children.  In the process, we can often neglect our spouse.  So why not do something simple to make the Christmas season magical for him or her too?  

The Pinterest version, of course, was quite ornate, with scrapbooked love notes and lots of fancy date nights.  My version, on the other hand, is the thrown-together-in-an-hour-with-stuff-I-already-had version.  And even though I did the the full 25 days, it's not too late to do something similar for your special someone.  You could either start a little late, or even do a little "Twelve Days of Christmas" thing.  

Here's the scoop: I scrounged up 25 white envelopes that I already had around the house (extras from invitations/cards that didn't get used, business envelopes, etc.) and numbered them from 1 through 25 using stickers I already had from another project.  You could easily just write the numbers on yourself, of course.  

Then, I opened my calendar and a Word document, and began to type up a little something for each day of December until Christmas.  Jonathan and I are not doing gifts for each other this year, so these things are not actual "gifts," per say.  Basically, each day has some sort of act of service, treat, or fun Christmas activity.  Some days just have a note with a specific compliment or a fun Christmas memory that we share.  

For example, for yesterday I wrote a little something about how proud I am of how hard he worked to prepare for Boards, and I promised him a great back rub.  Today's card tells him that I've planned a little family outing to pick up our Christmas tree.  Tomorrow is the big OSU/OU game, so I've promised him that I'll make Seven Layer Dip (his favorite game-day food) and listed seven things I love about him.  One day has a coupon and a dollar bill for a 99 cent latte at Dunkin Donuts.  One day has a date night, complete with a babysitter (Thanks, Emily!!!).  Another day has a pizza coupon, cash, and a promise to let him choose all the toppings (we always get into the meat vs. veggies dilemma, so I have a feeling that will be a Meat Busters night!), another reminisces about our first Christmas when we were dating.  On my grocery day, the note has him tell me any dessert he wants and I promise to pick up the ingredients to make it that night.  Other days are just pre-scheduled holiday events that were already on our calendar, and others are things that I planned for us to do as a family, like baking cookies, going to see Christmas lights, and our annual fondue night.  

Once I had written a note for each day, I printed out the document, cut each day into strips, and placed each one in the coordinating envelope.  I strung up some ribbon from my stash on the mantle in our bedroom and used clothespins to attach each envelope in order.  It was a fun surprise when he came home from work on November 30th and saw a whole month's worth of fun surprises just for him!  

This was a fun, simple project that any guy would love.  And honestly, I think Jonathan will appreciate my last-minute "print it, stuff it, hang it" approach just as much as he would an elaborate scrap-booked affair!  I'm looking forward to spoiling him a bit this month, and to taking some time to invest in our marriage in the midst of a crazy season.