This One’s Just for Fun

I heard on the radio recently that one way to combat pandemic fatigue is to be intentional about creating things to look forward to—even if those things look very different than they normally would.

Shortly after hearing this, I found this idea for a Christmas family activity countdown while perusing Pinterest:

I’m familiar with advent calendars where children open a door each day and find a chocolate, or legos. But I’m tired of stuff, and I feel like a standard advent calendar could become a bit monotonous, given the absence of parties and other in-person holiday activities. An advent calendar like this, though? This sounds fun! While I’ll innovate a bit rather than just using the items here, I’ll definitely keep at least some of these! And the others I’ll use as inspiration as I come up with some of my own.

For example, some items I may add: Watch a musical; Write a letter to a relative; Build a lego castle; Try a new recipe; Build a fort; and others I haven’t thought of yet. Feel free to share what you would add!

This idea can also be repurposed for uses completely separate from Christmas. I might well go on creating calendars like this all winter, if it works well—keeping each day’s activity secret, with a flap of some sort. And while this concept perhaps works best when used with children, I’m sure there are ways this concept could be adjusted to make it work in other settings as well. The point is simply to throw in something fun and interesting—and perhaps a bit surprising, or unconventional.

What about everyone else? How are you staying sane, as colder weather sets in and the pandemic has forced us to become increasingly more isolated? What tips or ideas do you have to share? What’s working for you? Let’s brainstorm and swap ideas!

I have a Patreon! Please support my writing!