Don't Put Your Holiday Calendar Away

As you carefully pack your decorations, you can't help feeling a little blue. Christmas is over and it will be 235 days before you can reasonably start pulling all these special pieces out again. It is a shame you can't use one or two things throughout the year instead of only using them for a few days. Actually, there are some fun options for reusing some of your holiday items for other events. One great idea for repurposing a Christmas item is to use your holiday calendar to count down to birthdays, Valentine's Day, or another important thing in your life. Children love turning the tradition of counting down to Christmas into a birthday count down. To start your new birthday tradition, you should: It may make more sense to go backwards so that the child ends up at number one on the big day.

Talk to your child about the way the calendar will work. While any child should enjoy this tradition, it is especially exciting to a child who is too young to figure out exactly when his or her birthday will arrive. He or she can easily see exactly when the big day will be.