Count down book

A while back my good friend turned 50 and I wanted to do something really awesome for her.  It's one thing to throw jabs about always being younger and I could have bought her a bunch of over-the-hill items but she isn't that kind of person.  She's the kind of person that every year of her life has blessed countless amounts of people.  Friends, family, strangers.  She pretty much opens her arms and loves everyone she meets and I wanted to celebrate that side of her.

So I came up with this:

I contacted 50 of her closest friends, relatives, and even some of her best customers at her gift shop and asked them all to write Judy a note.  Some of them were heartfelt tear-jerkers and others were just simple happy birthday wishes. 

Once I got them all, I made a book of various envelopes and put one message in each.  There were 50 messages and she opened one envelope a day for 50 days prior to her birthday.  It was awesome.  Quite possibly it was more fun for me than for her but I know she loved reading those messages.  I also know that it helped her cross that 50th birthday milestone in a pleasant way instead of a dreadful way.

 

 

 

 

I'm sharing this now because I will be adapting this idea to make a countdown to Christmas for my family.  Each envelope will contain an activity, a scripture, a story, or my testimony of the Savior and my kids can open an envelope each day.  I'm excited to do this and hope it makes our holiday season more meaningful.

Enjoy!