Christmas Countdown: Advent Calendars

We've added another element to Christmas decor-- or rather I should say festivities. It truly has added to the fun of the season. While everyone else is madly moving the Elf around, all I need to remember to do is stuff a tiny treasure into our new Advent Calendar. It didn't arrive until last week, so the novelty hasn't worn off yet. 

I fell in love with the Nordic inspired hat and mittens combo from Garnet Hill. All things hygge, right? 

Worth a read: Hygge: The Danish Word...

For a laugh, be sure to read through to the bottom,
the Quick List of Things that are NOT Hygge

I admittedly was ignorant about the history of Advent Calendars and just knew that they had some religious significance. Here's what I found: 

Advent is the four-week period beginning on the Sunday nearest the feast day of St. Andrew the Apostle (November 30) through the following three Sundays. Historians estimate that Advent, which derives from the Latin word for coming, has been celebrated since the fourth century. The period originally began as a time for converts to Christianity to prepare for baptism, but is now more commonly associated with the anticipation of the anniversary of Christ’s birth on December 25. 

Read more about Advent Calendars-- the $50k calendar and the Obama calendar on Mental Floss. 

Although Sweet P is too little to enjoy the calendar, I've had a blast filling it with creative surprises for the Sailor. The Sailor's first reaction was excitement -- He thought he was going to get little airplane bottles of liquor every day. 

Hope he wasn't disappointed when he found candied ginger and mango on the first day! (Spoiler alert in case he's actually reading: The tiny tequila is coming on the day our meal plan calls for chicken fajitas...) I've also filled the hats and mittens with a homemade Christmas ornament, an Ugly Sweater beer coozie, Chapstick, a bath scrubby, lottery tickets, America's Cup Croakies. 

The Sailor has been a sport and humored my effort to start a new tradition. He has even surprised me a couple of days with some really thoughtful little gifts including this Santa button. It's a clever way to keep the spirit of Santa alive-- a lost button is reason to believe that Santa really visited!