Christmas 1

 Hello everyone.

And so the Christmas season has officially started in this house. D and I will attempt to post something every day between now and Christmas Eve. Will it happen? Can we keep going?

Please pop by and see how we are doing.

Today, we are starting with Advent calendars.

The time between now and Christmas Day is known as Advent in the Christian year. In the past, Christians found different ways to count down to the celebrations on the 25th of December, such as making chalk markings on a flat object such as a door, putting up pictures or burning down a candle.

Although Advent calendars appeared in Germany in the early 1800s, it was in the 1900s that people began to mass-produce the calendar as we know it today. I was surprised to discover that the Chocolate Advent version was not a recent invention: some calendars contained a sweet treat before WW II, but production stopped until the end of the 1950s.

Advent calendars were a part of Christmas preparations in my mid-1960s childhood, and the little doors always had a Christmas scene or an image from the Nativity for each day. There were no chocolates, but I remember all the glitter on the calendar front. Since then, chocolate has come back in a big way, and now shops have larger and more expensive models with all manner of items behind doors to tempt us. I still prefer the ones I grew up with. 

After using the contents, somebody rescued the Advent box calendar in the photo above, and I repurposed it a few years ago. Inside are some cards containing part of the Bible's Nativity, a Christmas carol or song, and a heart. The first two items are self-explanatory, but the heart is to remind our family to give something back to the world that we take so much for granted. Rather than take out chocolates, of which there will be more than enough, I intend to donate items to our local food bank for each day until the 24th and be kinder and more thoughtful towards others.

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Hello all!

D here again. Mum has been telling you all about her memories of the advent calendars, and here are some of mine from the 1990s. My brother and I always looked forward to this time of year with the extra chocolate treat each day. The front of the calendar always had a picture of our favourite childhood characters, and it always seemed a shame that once the doors were all opened, the front picture disappeared. 

Now, I am joining Mum with her reverse Advent one.

From both of us, enjoy today

B and D xx