my issue was i had a zero and a million ideas all at the same time. i liked a little bit of something, and a little bit of something else, but none of it was really focused on giving back, and more importantly, none of it made me feel excited like i did that first year.
so, we had this idea...
it started with the 'elf on a shelf' craze. i really liked the idea of incorporating magic and wonder into the project, but was not so cool with using the elf as a way to manipulate finn's behavior. present giving is because you love someone, not because they acted well or somehow deserve it. the elves are also SUPER expensive, so that was a bit of a deal breaker for us.
a couple weeks after my half baked elf plan was fizzling out, my friend james sent me a link to a really funny website - dinovember. a husband and wife that devote the month of november to convincing their children that, while they sleep, their plastic dinosaur figures come to life. the pictures of these trouble-making dinosaurs are HILARIOUS! Jeff and I both laughed until we cried looking at this site, and again, i was drawn to the idea of creating that sense of wonder and magic, but it was still missing that connection piece that i was looking for.
so tonight i finally came up with our happy medium. we have some dinosaurs with festive hats and scarves, and starting december 1st, they are going to create some positive chaos at our house. each night they will suggest fun activities, ideas or random acts of kindness for us to do as a family- demonstrating everyday kindness and love toward each other, our family and friends, and total strangers. And reinforcing what the holidays really mean to our family in the process.
i will do my best to share some of our favourite ideas here on the blog, but in the mean time, here are some pictures of the dinosaurs in their winter best- ready to create some magic!
