Mailbox

I started this tradition about four years ago which is a countdown for twelve days until Christmas Eve day. We set up our tree on December 12th and put out the mailbox which gets filled that night. It's a simple little mailbox that my mom gave me after she had received it with a gift inside. It used to have a flag on it, but it broke so Owen made a new one. They like me to put the flag on when it has been filled and then the person opening it, in the morning, takes the flag off. The kids alternate days for opening the mailbox for a total of twelve days which means each of the three younger kids gets to open it four times. Mitch sleeps late and is no longer excited to open the mailbox, but enjoys getting the treat.

At night, I put a treat inside the mailbox along with a little note that has something fun written on it. Friday night I put four gum packs inside it and a note that read "there's something else behind a pillow close by". Owen did the hot and cold game until he found the pillow with the surprise hiding behind it: Fruit Loops! Tonight it's four orange Tic Tac packs with a note that reads "you can open your cards from ?". Their Nana mails cards to them every year so they get to open their cards from her. It's a fun and simple tradition of which they'll hopefully have fond memories.