Jolly Holiday Surprise Adventure | The Surprise – Part 1

** I have been so excited about this trip that of course I had been packed for weeks. But the night before the trip, we attended my niece’s birthday party and then came home and had the kids go to bed early!  And then final preparations were made by Joey and I, including getting the bags in the car and the “treasures” hidden and such.  We were so excited that I don’t think we really got any sleep!  Let the Adventure begin…

We woke the kids up at 6:00 am with a “Merry Christmas!” They were so confused but we told them to go get in the shower and get dressed. They were not too enthused about getting up so early on a Saturday morning.  They got ready and sleepily arrived in the living room to this:

That actually woke them up pretty good! Presents under the tree!  But we had them eat some breakfast, before we got started. 

Every year it has been our December tradition to have a daily activity. For years we have used an advent calendar that I created out of a over-the-door shoe organizer. (It has 24 slots, perfect for our daily activities to go in the pockets).  But this year, I got a great Black Friday deal at Deseret Book and purchased a new Shadowbox Advent Calendar that I have been eyeing for a couple of years:

 So we had the kids sit down on the couch and we pulled out the note that was in the “6” Box. Our note said: “Grimoires of Grand Adventure” (Joey had been giving the kids some vocabulary words in the previous week, so they would understand some of our messages.)

So we helped the kids get all their stuff into their backpacks and we put on our coats….