The Advent Calendar

AndreaClaire is doing a Christmas Memory Challenge over on her blog. The challenge is to post 25 memories that have nothing to do with gifts. And, because I have nothing better to do decided not to do a picture advent this December, I'm going to join her challenge. You can too. Let her know.

My first story is about our advent calendar.

When I was a kid we had a chocolate advent calendar once. ONE TIME. The entire time I was a kid. Our neighbours had five kids and both mom and dad came home with five advent calendars. So they kindly brought three over to our house and two to the neighbours on the other side and we got to have chocolate advent calendars. Once.

I'm actually not bitter...that was a pretty special year and we got to have our usual advent calendars too. Mine was a manger scene and every day behind the door was a short bible verse telling the Christmas story. I loved it. My sisters each had calendars with sparkles, and I admit, I was a bit jealous of the sparkles. I think my advent calendar is still in one of my parents' Christmas boxes. I remember we all got new ones one year (the paper doors start to wear out after a while) and yes, mine had sparkles, but I still preferred my manger scene.

Two years ago when we went to England just before Christmas, my lovely, elderly, British cousins gave me some money to buy something special for J. I wanted to get her something lasting, something that wouldn't wear out, that I could tell her a story about. We looked and looked and finally I decided that I would get her an advent calendar from Harrods. It's red velvet and it has little pockets for each day and a fruit cake marker to move along the days.

I made little notes to go inside each pocket and every day J gets to do something special that is (mostly) related to Christmas. This morning she opened a special craft to do with her babysitter tonight. On the weekend her little paper will announce that we're going to the Santa Claus Parade. It was lots of fun to put together and I hope it will be a nice tradition for our family.

And those elderly cousins of mine? Well, I am so glad that I thought to get something for J that would last. Both George and Persis died earlier this year and the advent calendar will give me the perfect opportunity to tell J about them, this year and for years to come.