Christmas wreath

I forgot to share with you some photos of the Christmas wreath I made, it was one of my advent calender activities.
It was so easy to make, I simply wrapped a polystyrene ring in thick hemp twine and some red ribbon, then glued on some white and red felt roses that I made by cutting a circle of the felt into a spiral and winding it up keeping one side flat.

Advent Calendar Ideas

This year we are planning on having a really special Christmas at home with our new little family.  It will be our first Christmas spent at home together and Orren's very first Christmas, we want it to be really special and lovely, I also want it to be as stress free as possible which is why I am already thinking about it, as it is creeping up quickly.  Everyone's Christmas usually begins with a count down, often a gaudy cardboard calender filled with cheap chocolates and decorated with a tacky kids cartoon character, not very festive in my opinion, so this year I have decided to make my own.  Pintrest provided me with myriad ideas and I am pretty set on the idea of having pockets, I was initially thinking I could make a fabric calendar with large pockets to hold a tasty chocolate, but now I am thinking of making paper envelopes and putting a little fun, festive Christmas activity idea in each, I think this is more fun and thoughtful.
Here are some of the fab advent calendars I saw on Pintrest, honestly I could make any one of these, they area all so it is so hard to make a decision.

Really like the use of burlap on this one, it is a simple design which I think I could manage,

 

Love the idea of stringing little envelopes across a large picture frame,

 

There intricately decorated envelopes are so beautiful but I think this could be a bit expensive for my budget,

 

Love the idea of hanging little gifts of a branch, or tree, I have some driftwood branches that would work really well with this idea,

 

I like the simplicity of this design, but I would probably make my own envelopes with Christmassy paper of vintage music sheet,

 

I like the idea of using pegs to hold gifts or envelopes, but I am not sure what I would glue the peg to?

 

Another fun design with beautifully decorated paper envelopes, this one is probably more realistic for me to make as there are less embellishments,

 

I like this simple design, it has a sort of Shaker/ New England feel that I love,

Lace and doilies!!  Need I say any more?

 

Another simple envelope design,

I like the idea of using little boxes and decorating the lids with Christmassy paper, but I am not sure where I would get 24 little boxes from without spending money I don't have!

 

What do you do Advent Calendar wise for Christmas?  Have you made your own? What did you do?