Simplify

One of my favorite things at this time of year is having an Advent calendar to count down the 24 December days until the big gift-giving orgy Christmas arrives. I prefer the old-fashioned, authentic type of calendar we had when I was a kid:  most of them are made in Germany, and are basically a piece of cardboard about 10"x14."  They commonly feature softly-watercolored scenes of a snowy town square or village street, in a year that appears to be a hundred ago.  A few rosy-cheeked children wrapped in mittens and scarves throw snowballs or pull wooden sleds past the bakery.  A dog and a cat sit side-by-side in rare harmony, eyeing the hams and sausages and roasts hanging in the butcher's window.  Behind yellow-glowing windows, you glimpse a family snug inside, eating supper at a long wooden table.  There are sometimes tall dark snow-laden pine trees in the background, and you might see a few birds nestling in the boughs for the coming night.  It is almost always night in these Advent pictures so that the artist has a reason to include some stars, particularly one really big star reminiscent of the one they say hung in the sky over Bethlehem a much longer time ago.  The star and most of the snow in the pictures are generously dusted with glued-on glitter.  When I was a kid, the glitter added much to the excitement and fanciness and, I dunno - glory - of the calendar.  Today, the glitter emphasizes instead the rather un-fanciness and simplicity of the thing.  But is is no less exciting for me. 

Each night beginning December 1, before going to bed, we carefully and slowly open one (only one! No peeking ahead!) of the numbered, perforated doors that are cleverly camouflaged throughout the wintery scene.  For behind each door lies a surprise! - another picture - and it is always a thrill for me to "discover" the things painted within:  A pair of colorful mittens one night, a tiny bird the next.  A book.  A lighted candle.  A candy cane.  All very simple things hidden there for the sole purpose of delighting the person who gets to open the door.

It works for me.

And it goes on this way all month until all the doors have been opened but one.  This twenty-fourth door is always the biggest.  Badly disguised as the stained glass entrance to a church, or maybe as a rough wooden barn entrance.  You've known where this door is all month, and now it's finally Christmas Eve.  Looking at the calendar, you spot the perforated edges right away, and you carefully pry open the door to see what's inside, but you already know full well it's going to be the baby Jesus lying swaddled in a cradle full of straw.  If you're lucky enough to have one of the authentic Advent calendars, that's the only thing that is ever inside the 24th door.  But somehow, when you open that door to the same familiar result instead of a surprise each Christmas Eve year after year, you're not disappointed in the least.  I'm not, anyway.

Some things never change, and that's the way it should be.

It's getting hard to find authentic Advent calendars any more, and when I do find a source, I buy several to guarantee my nostalgia fix for the next few Decembers.  It's a sign of the times:  "The way it should be" Advent calendar is, frankly, boring to most and not exactly marketable in this age of the All-American-Extreme-Mega-Christmas.  It would be much easier to purchase one of the many modern alternatives available.  Designed especially for the "got to have it now" generation, you must put a piece of candy, or a toy, or a tree ornament behind the 24 doors to make it exciting and and worth your kid's time and effort to open it.  I have no interest in those. 

Or, for that matter, in those nasty giant inflatable lawn decorations. 

If you're one of my friends/family/acquaintenances who have one (or God forbid more) of those in your yard, I apologize.  But to me, they symbolize everything that is wrong with this Holiday and none of the good.  Please throw a dart at the thing, go back to putting up simple lights or a candle in each window, get yourself an old-fashioned Advent calendar.

Simple = good.

Comments

[Lynne]

Oh I loved those plain ole advent calenders. This year my mom sent me one from the uk. It's a flat box, with a big photo of Thomas the tank engine on the front, and behind each door is a piece of chocolate.

just not the same.

[Bekah]

I never did the Advent calendar thing growing up, but my mom and I always made paper chain links out of red and green construction paper and pulled off one chain every night before bed. I loved those.

And yes, giant blow up lawn decorations? I hate them.

[CNL]

"But to me, they symbolize everything that is wrong with this Holiday and none of the good. Please throw a dart at the thing..."

Amen.
Will do.
Though I think my neighbors are gonna be po'd at me when they wake up and find a deflated grinch, santa, scooby, snowman, reindeer, etc, etc, on their lawn....

[scorpy]

I remember having an Advent calendar at least once as a child. It was the kind with candy inside, though. I don't know that my 7-year-old brain could have gotten excited about the simple pictures. I find that, as I grow older, my tastes grow more simple, less "gimme," and overall, better.

[Emlighten-NewJersey]

Merry Christmas!