When I was a child I was always fascinated by advent calendars. I would see them on television and movies but never saw them for sale. I can remember the craziness of national lampoons Christmas vacation being marked by the opening of the advent doors between scenes.
Now it seems advent calendars are a little more readily available, although it’s still hard to find ones that are beautiful without taking a bit of time to search. Why have an advent calendar you might ask? The Christmas season hurtles by so fast and having a small amount of time set aside each day helps you mark the passage of the season helping you and your family to savor it.
This year I found an advent calendar for our family that looks like the old German Christmas toys at Marshall’s. Once you have your calendar how shall it be filled? Last year we purchased an advent calendar from the toy company Lego. Our boys loved taking turns opening each door and putting together their own little Lego creation each evening. In an effort to stop them from arguing one has to pick a odd days and one has to pick the evens, I wish I could tell you they still didn’t argue. This year we purchased another Lego advent calendar that was Star Wars themed and simply took out each one of the small mini figurines and put them in the drawers of the advent calendar.
Calendar Ideas
When you create an advent calendar think about the interest of your child or pets, that’s right you can even do an advent calendar for your pets with little treats. Give a senior adult an advent calendar and fill it with candies or chocolates or even small Bible verses. Wouldn’t it be a great idea to send the far-flung friend or relative an advent calendar full of treats to remind them of you each day during the holiday? You could even send a miniature tree along with the advent calendar and have a small miniature ornament in each drawer of the calendar, that way by Christmas Eve the small tree would be decorated. Know someone that likes Bath and body care? Fill each drawer with a tiny sample of lotions or soaps. Have a kid that loves cars? Fill each drawer with a small car or vehicle toy. Have a little girl that loves to make jewelry? Fill each drawer with beads that make a beautiful necklace by Christmas Eve! You can see the skies the limit, just use your holiday imagination. I hope you will make an advent calendar part of your family’s traditions this year.