Here's to an An Enchanting Advent
24 little doors of Joy!
Last week, I bought my mum and me a picture Advent calendar, just like I have done for the past two years. I propped it up proudly in the kitchen and watched the puzzled expressions, questions and astonishment when they realised it was not filled with chocolates or other small treats!
I explain to them that there is, indeed, a lovely surprise behind every door…
When I was a child opening my Advent calendar was filled with anticipation and excitement. My memory rooted around my curly mop and rosy cheeks, getting dressed in front of an electric fire with a warm mug of sugary tea and opening my calendar to reveal an image of a nativity scene or a stocking filled with gifts. Somedays, I would forget, to open at breakfast and I would be excited all day to get home and check what picture was behind the door.
I also remember the wonder of staying at a friend’s house and seeing their large patchwork pocket calendar filled with sweets for the month and how pleasing it was when I received a sweet on a sleepover there. And no, it never detracted from the excitement of my own picture calendar!
I was really interested to read more about the history of the Advent calendar. They gained popularity in Germany, around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The most popular origin story today is that in the late 1800s, the mother of a German boy called Gerhardt Lang taped a sweet to a piece of cardboard for each day of Advent. I love the image of how this sweet exchange between mother and son has now grown into a tradition for so many.
As an adult, Lang set up a printing company with a friend called Reichhold and, inspired by his mother’s Advent treats, the pair printed the first Advent calendar in 1908. Although their business closed in the 1930s, the modern Advent calendar had caught the public's imagination and soon became a new Christmas tradition.
“The hidden child in everyone comes out at different times (as you can witness for yourself each year in any major city on the Thursday before Christmas), but for me it is at the start of December, when I pull back the tiny, hinged windows of my Advent calendar to find a candle, a cherub or a glowing lantern hidden within.” The Christmas Chronicles by Nigel Slater
At some point, when I was an older tween or young teenager, commercialism had really kicked in. My mum started buying me a Cadbury one each year, but the love for the picture version from my early years never really left.
So much so that I started making Advent calendars for my older siblings who were at University or working away. It became my festive art project; I drew my very own pictures and layered them over with another piece of card where I had cut out the doors with a small scratch art scalpel. Posting them off at the end of November for them to enjoy.
Nowadays, of course, there are Advent calendars for pretty much anything you desire from stationery, to 24 books to beauty products and mini gins! As a family, our Advent calendar has evolved over the years from a nativity velcro scene my mum bought our eldest when he was tiny to popping a small chocolate each in their pocket calendar to an activity calendar with activity ideas within the chocolate-filled pockets to an actual LEGO calendar when we didn’t have four to buy for! I asked my eldest daughter what her favourite childhood memory of Advent calendars was, and she said the material calendar was her favourite, and receiving her very own chocolate calendar for her room from her great auntie.
This year, we have taken some LEGO boxes that are stored away in the attic and put together our own bags for our youngest two. I really can’t wait to see them get creative before breakfast each morning, and of course, there will be a chocolate treat each day as well as our advent material nativity scene!
I love to make a fuss of Advent and, indeed 12 days of Christmas, as it’s not just about one day for me. We love the anticipation, the gathering around to see what they discovered and the countdown itself. However you find your enchanted moments occur this advent, I hope they bring you as much joy as it does for us!