Growing up, my family had an advent calendar that we would put out every year while decorating. I didn't know that it was an advent calendar and we didn't call it an advent calendar but I've come to realize that's probably what it was. It was a length of fabric to which 24 gold rings were tied in a row and at the end of every day, we would untie a ring, bringing us that much closer to December 25th. As a child, I looked forward to this ritual every day in December. It was something my family did right before we went to sleep and it helped to build excitement for the coming holiday.
As I said, we never called our decoration an advent calendar and I had never really heard of advent calendars until a few years ago. It wasn't really until I started watching vloggers on YouTube talking about their advent calendars that I started to notice them out and about and in stores.
There are so many types of advent calendars out there but they all have one thing in common - counting the days.
The word "advent" is adopted from the Latin adventus, meaning "coming". It began as a religious observance, a time for spiritual preparation associated with the coming of Christ. Depending on the religion, the length of the Advent season changes from year to year, as the actual first day of the season is different each year. There are always four Sundays during Advent prior to Christmas, but since the day of the week that Christmas is on varies each year, the length of the season varies as well.
Today, most Advent calendars start on December 1. Advent calendars were developed in 19th-century Germany, where German Lutherans used them to mark the time leading up to Christmas. By the early 1900s, the calendars were in high demand in Germany. Following World War II and a disturbing Naz-themed Advent calendar, there was a strong desire to return to the traditional Christmas Advent calendars and the calendars were introduced to the U.S. and Europe by returning service members.
Nowadays, Advent calendars have expanded to include non-idealogical ideas and it is not just children who receive Advent calendars as gifts. Some of the calendars you can buy feature wine, socks, makeup, candles, tea, and coffee, to name a few. And although modern Advent calendars have strayed from their original beginnings, they still accomplish some of the same things - to bring joy and count the days as they go by.
This brings me to my 2022 Advent calendars. Last year was the first year that I purchased an Advent calendar. I bought a chocolate calendar and a scrapbook/planner calendar. Both of these were great, although I probably won't use much of what I received in the scrapbook/planner calendar. I did love having a little piece of chocolate to eat every day.
This year, I purchased three Advent calendars - a yarn calendar, a Reese's calendar, and the Sugarfina calendar. The Reese's calendar was bought on a whim at Bartell's - how could I pass something like that up? The yarn calendar contains 24 20-gram skeins of yarn and then a larger skein to open on December 25. Both the Reese's and the Sugarfina calendar are filled with candy. It's a toss-up between the Reese's and the Sugarfina as to which one is my favorite. I like the yarn, but now have a bunch of little skeins of yarn that I need to figure out projects for. I'm not sure I thought that one through so much.
I choose to keep my tradition of opening my calendars in the evenings as a treat. It gives me something to look forward to at the end of the day and I love having a little piece (or two) of candy for dessert in the evenings.
I would love to get a wooden calendar, one to keep for a long time, that I can fill it up with treats for myself and use year and year. Maybe next year!
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