CHRISTMAS CANNING Today, we're making some extra special holiday gifts. Alongside my famous Whisky Fig Cranberry Sauce, we'll be tackling either Lillie O'Brien's Persimmon, Saffron & Vanilla Jam or her...

SKETCH THE TREE AND SPONSOR A LIVE ONE Today, we'll spend some time sketching our Christmas tree. We're fishing out all of the old boxes of oil pastels and charcoal...

Pyjama Day + Building the Ultimate Breakfast Sandwich Each year, during Advent, we grab a pair of crazy holiday pyjamas for at least one person in the family (usually Bea)...

Feast of Santa Lucia Family Book Exchange is ON B & T are swapping titles again this year. They're hunting gently used books for each other (and an extra for...

Holiday Game Night with Cocktails for Mom and Dad Tonight, we're going to play holiday versions of all of our favourite games. We'll haul out the game of "Christmas Clue"...

Photograph the City Today, we'll visit the Art Gallery of Ontario (for Anthropocene) and Allen Gardens (for the Winter Flower Show). Then, we'll go outside and photograph the city with an eye for...

Hallmark-Style Christmas Movie Spoof Tonight, we're going to write, produce, and film our own spoof trailer, meet-cute, or pivotal scene from a Hallmark-style Christmas Movie. Bonus points for "modernizing" Shakespeare,...

Today, we're going to make Soft Salted Caramels for the family and for gifting! Here's a copy of my recipe! Soft Salted Caramels 1 c heavy cream5 tbs unsalted butter...

Topping Up the Food Bank Box Today, we're going to pile canned goods into the Daily Bread Food Bank box at our local grocery store. The most needed donation box...

SEE ALL THE LIGHTS! Our annual tradition lives on! After a holiday event downtown, we'll cruise the giant inflatable Santas on Inglewood Drive and SEE ALL THE LIGHTS! RETURN TO...

Toronto Christmas Market It's our annual tradition! Today, B and I will go have a lunch in the Distillery District and Ride the Ferris Wheel at the Toronto Christmas Market....

Holiday Beatnik Coffeehouse As you may have noticed, I took suggestions from the teenagers as to what they'd like to do on various days in Advent. In addition to the...

St. Lawrence Market Cheese Board This morning, we'll get up before dawn and travel to the amazing stalls at St. Lawrence Market, gathering the ingredients for our Christmas Dinner and...

Today, we're making the Bûche de Noël for our Christmas Dinner! We'll either be making this amazing Chocolate Mint Buche de Noël or my all-time favourite Lemon Bûche de Noël with...

Here it is! The annual Christmas Eve Checklist! □ Go for a Brisk walk with our mini-schnauzer, Elvis! □ Make tons of Christmas cookies. □ Live stream Jon Solomon's 30-Hour...

Merry Christmas! RETURN TO THE ADVENT 2018 EVENTS PAGE

TRAIN FILMS!!! This year's New Year's Eve film fest will consist of movies that take place on a train or which feature a train scene as a main plot-point. Since...

It'sthe firstday of Advent!Time to trim the tree! First, we'll have to choose one!This afternoon, we'll trek over tothe local Scouts lot for a tall, slim fir. Then, we'll turn...

Design your own Bookplate! Today's Advent TBD is a MAJOR THROWBACK to our very first online Advent Calendar in 2011 ! The kids were too young to get involved, and...

Provide Baby Blankets via Plan Canada Gifts of Hope Today, we're providing three baby blankets to children in need via Plan International Canada's Gifts of Hope. How will you be...

Make Clementine's Famous Crullers Today, we're going to be conquering our "fear of frying" by making Clementine Paddleford's famous crullers. Clementine is the lady with the pencil, above! Her Cruller...

Family Book Exchange 2019 This year's Advent Family Book Exchange shall henceforth be known as "The Hardcover Edition." Go big or go home. Everyone's going to pick a name from...

Festive Streaming-Service Binge It's Friday. We're going to chill on the couch with some Fish and Chips from our local and have a proper binge of a new-to-us series of...

Carols, Cocktails, and Cookies a.k.a. Winterize the Song of the Summer Last year, our carol-off consisted of a day of writing punk-rock Christmas songs. This year, we're back on a...

Concert & Pinochle Today's the Saint Michael's Choir School Christmas Concert at Roy Thomson Hall. It's going to be an afternoon of rehearsals, dress up, performances, and dress-down. After the...

Make Block-Printed Tea Towels Anyone who knows me knows my obsession with tea-towels, especially calendar tea towels. If we’re going to have a good time this afternoon, DIY calendars may...

Donate to Forests Ontario Let's flight climate change, dozens of trees at at time!Today, we're making a contribution to Forests Ontario. How will you make a difference today?

Make Fried Chicken Last year's Advent Calendar started us off on a Fried Chicken tour of the city. This week in conquering our "Fear of Frying," we'll be frying chicken...

Mail Christmas Cards Gone are the family photo cards. We'll be handwriting a select few Christmas cards this year and sending them out as we go. Formerly broken hands need...

Spooky Santa Lucia Hold onto your stockings and ignite your candle crowns! It's the Feast of Santa Lucia AND Friday the 13th! Jinx! You can darn well bet we're going...

It's Christmas Canning Day And, last minute UPDATE, we've got a friend coming over who's never made jam before! So, grab your cross-back aprons, folks. It's going to be a...

Perform and Record a Classic Radio Play We did it in 2017, and we'll do it again....Tonight, we're going to perform and record a classic radio play. We'll choose a...

Glam Cans 2019 Back when the kids were young, we took part in Well Preserved's Pimp Your Preserves Holiday Contests! We designed our own canning labels and really dolled up...

Food is a human right, yet 1 in 7 people struggle to find adequate sustenance in our own city. Today, the family will be putting food in the Daily Bread...

Toronto Christmas Market Today, the ladies are heading out to Toronto's Distillery District for our annual luncheon and a loop around the Ferris Wheel. We'll also tour the booths and...

Dinner and Star Wars I can't believe they're still making these films.....And, since there's always a new hope, we're still grabbing tickets months in advance. Tonight's the final installment, or...

Sketch a Winter Window Scene Last winter, Bea sketched the snowy view from her bedroom window. Today, we'll all sit down to sketch a winter window scene, whether that's a...