I love using advent calendars to track the days to Christmas.  Mr. Printables has this free printable Christmas Street Advent Calendar available in black and white or with pops of accent color.  Your city grows by a building each day, and every building is a tiny box if you’d like to include a small gift.  Just print them on cardstock, cut them out, score along the dotted lines to help in folding and add a couple pieces of tape here and there.  (I used the blunt tip of a knitting needle to score mine.)  In no time at all, you’ll have your own gorgeous little city!