Here Comes Christmas!!! Let the Countdown Begin!

Hello, greetings, welcome back and thanks for coming! While I realize it’s been a long pause since our last updates, I figured that there is no better way to get back into the routine than the winter festivities to get in the spirit of human connection, making meaningful time, and having a good laugh! I am excited to kick off this mini-series of blogs in which I upload DAILY either here or on my other social media platforms (check us out on instagram or tiktok @cindysedd) as an advent to Christmas!

So why Christmas? Well for this series, it is because Christmas is the BIG holiday in our lives, and in the lives of our many of our friends and family members.  Christmas starts for us (now that we are retired and we try to include everyone during the extended holiday season) in late November.  Well, the shopping starts a little earlier (if we plan well enough ahead of time!), but the preparing and the decorating and wrapping, tree up etc will begin at the end of November. Which is where we are now! My how time flies!

And let’s face it.  It might be true that the decorating (both putting up and taking down) has become a chore that we don’t enjoy as much. Now that the kids are gone and most evenings it’s just the two of us, the motivation is not gone, but more so has… Well, shifted!  And every year we go to the garage to pull out the endless boxes filled with memories and festive goodies, we are reminded of how much stuff we actually hold onto!  Someone said to me that we spend the first 50 years of our lives collecting things, and the next 50 years getting trying to get rid of it all, which I think has some truth to it. 

But this year, darn it, we are setting the tone right for the season! By making some intentional changes around here for the Christmas season, we are going to make a point to ENJOY what Christmas and the winter season can do to help us grow closer and more loving with each other. 

So the idea this year?  A romantic Christmas advent calendar of events that we will be doing together, every day, from December 1 - 24.

Sounds exhausting, right?

You can just imagine Kevin’s reaction!

Well, it is not going to be exhausting. 

It’s going to be fun.

It doesn’t have to be a long time commitment every day.  

But it does have to be something!

The point we are trying to make is that Christmas is not meant to be a chore, nor is it a to-do list item that clogs our schedules.  Christmas provides us a built-in opportunity to do something small but memorable every day for 24 days.  This year, we will try to make even the Christmas decorating an event and an opportunity.  

So let’s set up the parameters for success.

With a small head start (hey, I got to document all of this throughout the month for you to read, can you blame me?), Kevin and I have developed some ideas on making this season special. Alongside the documentation journey you’ll find here and on social media, behind the scenes Kevin and I are developing and recording podcast episodes, writing a new short book (more details coming soon!), and other exciting projects that will start rolling out in the new year.  So in the meantime, be sure to look us up during the Advent season for some fun ideas for dates or just spending a it of “us” time over the festive season.  After all, Christmas comes just once a year - why not be sure to spend a bit of “we” time, not just “me” time!  

What are the rules to our Christmas Advent Couples Calendar?

I have determined, as I am planning our Advent Date Calendar out, that it is impossible to plan AND DO some kind of date night or day theme every day for all 24 days prior to Christmas. I become exhausted just thinking about it!   There are so many Christmas commitments with family and friends, and let’s face it, sometimes we all need a night off (or a day and a night, at least I do) to do something else that has NOTHING to do with Christmas.Or dating.  So I am scaling down my initial plan by including  “free” days or “prior commitment” days.  On those days, just be sure to connect with one another over coffee in the morning, tea in the evening, or whenever else makes sense. I will definitely include  calendar and what we will try to do, but plans may be adjusted.

And speaking of plans needing to be adjusted…. as I was trying to book tickets to go to our local high school’s Christmas Concert evening as a great idea for an Advent Date night (those young adults are so incredibly talented, you are treated to a very professional show at a fraction of the cost - and (bonus) it’s local!), I remembered (how could I forget) that Kevin and I have booked a week in the tropics BEFORE Christmas!  

So, while it’s a mad rush to have everything prepared prior to leaving, we will still do a few “Advent date night” posts from our tropical holiday destination!