Advent
Tomorrow is the first day of Advent and I just hung up the Advent Calendar. I started this family tradition twenty-nine years ago. It was easy for a while, when Martha was content with little trinkets from the toy store. Still, twenty-four little presents wrapped and ready by the thirtieth of November has been something of a challenge through the years. It was quite an expensive undertaking after a while when the fifty-cent toys were no longer acceptable. When Martha left for college I tried doing two advent calendars for a couple of years - one for her and one for the boys. That was even more of a problem because I had to make sure Martha's calendar was delivered to Hawaii before December 1. The boys have made it a little easier in recent years by specifying a preference for fewer 'novelty' items. That means no more cute little Pez dispensers or plastic reindeer pooping brown jellybeans. (Those reindeer were a great hit with a certain 'New York sophisticate' set by the way!) Ah, well. I have to keep doing this. Nothing was said pre-Advent last year and the boys later said they thought I had forgotten. They were so pleased when they saw it! Grown men, they looked like happy little boys grinning at their calendar.
posted by Susan @ 8:36 PM
7 Comments:
Lovely post, Susan, and how true! I have been mildly wondering for how many more years we will be experiencing the Christmas stockings and the tray for Santa (glass of whisky, mince pie and a carrot, though whisky has mutated into wine in recent years). For as long as they are here, is clearly the answser!
(I was thinking this only this morning becuase I had to get the christmas cardboard box out of the attic for a santa hat, as it is the girls' school Christmas fair today, and Jenny is personning a stall. However, I myself am the "leave everything till Christmas eve and have a wonderful surprise the next morning" variety, unlike 99.99 per cent of the modern world it seems, many of whom have their houses decorated already.)
Lovely post, Susan, and how true! I have been mildly wondering for how many more years we will be experiencing the Christmas stockings and the tray for Santa (glass of whisky, mince pie and a carrot, though whisky has mutated into wine in recent years). For as long as they are here, is clearly the answser!
(I was thinking this only this morning becuase I had to get the christmas cardboard box out of the attic for a santa hat, as it is the girls' school Christmas fair today, and Jenny is personning a stall. However, I myself am the "leave everything till Christmas eve and have a wonderful surprise the next morning" variety, unlike 99.99 per cent of the modern world it seems, many of whom have their houses decorated already.)
PS 24 liqueur chocolates? The one for the 24th would be all crystallised sugar.
I bought ( sorry, YES, bought) 2 identical Advent Calendars this year. One for grandson George aged 1 and the other for son Ric, 30 next week....
Hey that's so nice. It's wonderful to have family traditions. In a changing world they help us to keep a bit of a hold on time maybe. Your sons sound so cute (I know they are older - like mine are too - but they can still be cute eh?!)
What a lovely tradition.....and fantastic that you've kept it going!
Of course all of us men are little boys at heart......
Made me feel all "Christmassy" reading this.......
Susan, you haven't posted in ages (well 9 days) and I haven't seen your name around the comments on various blogs. Hope all is OK with you. I miss you.
Thank you, Maxine! It's very kind of you to notice. I hadn't noticed myself! I've been so wrapped up in Christmas preparations that I haven't had much time for the computer. I'm planning to post a quantity of pictures soon, showing the (excessive) decorating I've been doing. I just love Christmas!
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