We make a paper chain to count down to Christmas.
I cut pieces of 8.5" x 11" paper in half, hot dog style. Those strips will be folded in half again, long ways. But before we link them together, each family member gets a stack of paper strips. We each write strips about the other people in the family. We write what we like about them, or something we enjoy doing with them, or just something nice about them.
So each strip has something about one member of the family, written by someone else in the family. Ideally each person can write about every other person in the family. We've gotten a *little* bigger than that, so I usually assign who each kid will write about by writing a name at the top of each strip - that's who you're supposed to write about. Even when the kids were little we did this, either writing down what they told us, or, as we do with David, guessing at what they would tell us if they could talk!
The the strips get folded so the message is hidden inside and given to me. I assemble the chain, which is, of course, red/green/red/green in pattern, because a random placement would drive me crazy! (I staple the links together.) Then each night we pick one kid to pull a link off and read it to the rest of the family. It's an amazing feel good moment and my favorite holiday tradition!
