58 • DECEMBER 2021
When her five-year-old daughter,
Sophie, was told she had to isolate
around the Christmas period, Amy
Thompson had an innovative idea
that would make sure both Sophie,
and her seven-year-old brother, Will,
were kept entertained.
"I wanted to do something a bit
different as it was going to be the
first Christmas with no Santa visits
or trips to Christmas markets, and
I still wanted to give them a really
special December."
Amy, who is an event and wedding
planner, wrote down different
activities on pieces of paper and put
them into an advent calendar for the
children to open. Each activity was
different and a total surprise.
Movie night with treats, game
night, Zoom with their cousins
LOCKDOWN CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS WE'RE KEEPING
and baking were just some of the
activities that they opened on those
chilly December mornings that kept
them excited for the day ahead.
"We did almost all of them together.
Christmas is a time to spend with
family but when we couldn't see our
extended family, the kids were quite
upset so we tried to make it as special
as possible with the advent calendar.
Some of the activities we would
have done anyway, like watching
Christmas movies, but they thought
it was a special treat every time they
opened an activity because we made
a big deal out of it."
Amy plans to do the same tradition
again this year and is already thinking
up new exciting activities to add for
2021 that won’t have to be within the
lockdown restrictions.I CREATED AN ACTIVITY ADVENT CALENDAR