Easy Countdown Calendars for the Procrastinators

My daughter has been asking when Christmas is for the last week. Last year we made a paper chain to countdown to Christmas but we're going to be traveling this month and I didn't want to drag a chain with us everywhere we go so we needed a new idea. We searched on Pinterest for some countdown calendars and she couldn't decide which one she wanted so we made two. :)  I suddenly realized when I woke up this morning that it was December 1 so the morning was spent working on our craft ideas. They are super easy and with a few craft supplies, you can make them in a few minutes (unless you have a craftqueen like I do who has her own ideas about how things should look).

Countdown Christmas Tree
On Pinterest the craft was to glue colored pompoms onto a paper tree each day to look like ornaments until the tree is full. We didn't have pompoms so using my circle 3/4" punch, we cut out 'ornaments' from Christmas scrapbook paper. I used one circle to trace 24 places on the trees. Each day, the kids can choose one circle to glue onto the tree. On Christmas Day we'll glue the star on top and be finished.

Snowman Countdown Clock
This project got a little interesting in our house, thanks to my CraftQueen. This is what it's supposed to look like:

You move the nose to each day, like the hands on a clock, until you get to 25. Simple, right? Well, my little girl was concerned because 'real' snowmen don't have moving noses. Sigh. So she made hers a little different. We still need to add the numbers on hers and we're just going to cross off a number a day.

She was also concerned that he didn't have a body so we'll probably add that also. Feel free to put a hat or scarf on yours.

Our House
And just to get into the Christmas mood, here is the decorating I've done so far around our house. The theme for this year is rustic in a minimal way.

One of my summer activities was to bleach pinecones. I forgot the first batch and they ended up soaking for a week (instead of 2 days) but I like the outcome. They were simple and look nice. If you want to give it a try, here's the tutorial I followed from Stone Gable.

Can you believe the size of that pinecone?! I got a box of them from a lady at our church and she collected them from her yard! Just beautiful. I'm still deciding on a Christmas message to write on the chalkboard.

More of those beautiful pinecones are upstairs on the family room mantle.

The dining room just has a burlap runner and pinecones in a long basket for now. I'm sure I'll add some color, this was all I could manage at the time.

How are you preparing your home for Christmas?