Advent Calendars

I can remember how excited I was the first time my family received an Advent calendar in the mail. Some cousin or family friend -- maybe a godmother of one of us -- thought it was a good idea to send an Advent calendar to help us get ready for Christmas. I was about five years old and in kindergarten.

The paper calendar had a beautiful Christmas scene on it and it was covered in sparkly glitter. My sisters and I were thrilled and anxiously awaited our turn to open a window and have my mother read us the Biblical quote. When morning arrived each day, we would run to the place where the Advent calendar hung on the wall, all excited and giggly. My mother would calm us down and we all helped her remember which of the three of us was next in line to open the window that day.

If it were my older sister, she would try to read the quote herself with her newly acquired phonics skills. If it were my younger sister, who was only three, the two of us older ones would shudder in case she were to rip the window off in her enthusiasm. I was in the middle, neither able to read nor too little to be careful. At least that's how I remember it. My sisters may have seen it differently!

When I grew up and had children of my own, a dear friend sent them each an Advent calendar so there wouldn't be any fights as to who got to open a window. (She had raised five children of her own.) I found the concept a novel one, as sharing the opening of windows for my sisters and me was part of the joy of the activity. But preventing fights has its strong points, I must add.

The Advent calendars available today are amazingly varied. There are the paper ones I remember from my own childhood that come equipped with an envelope for sending them in the mail. These are especially handy for grandparents and godparents who may have several children for whom to buy Advent calendars.

There are wooden “calendars,” some of which can be hung on a wall or made into a table display. These can either have wooden figures you add to a scene day by day or little boxes in which you can hide treats or sayings to be read.

Some people make or buy fabric or felt calendars with pockets, each of which is numbered for the days from December 1st to 24th. These pockets, too, can be filled with quotes to read or figures to attach.

The Advent calendar I sent to my granddaughters last year has a little book for each day in which you can read a portion of the Christmas story. Once read, the tiny book, which has a gold-colored cord attached, can be hung on the Christmas tree or some other designated place. The girls loved the idea of the little books. I have included a link to that set of Advent books below.

Finally, Lego and Playmobile have their own Advent series which allows you to open a new little figure each day leading up to Christmas. If your children are big Lego or Playmobile fans, you may find these sets of interest.

I hope you have enjoyed perusing these options for Advent calendars. I know there are the Advent calendars with chocolates behind each window, too, but I haven’t included any of those. My background gives me an understanding of Advent as a time to anticipate the celebration, which means holding back from extra treats, though I understand that these days few people still hold on to the idea of fasting for religious reasons. Fasting to lose weight -- now that’s a different story.