Counting Down the Days

Like most kids this time of year, Chapel and Eli are counting down the days until Christmas. And like most kids in Germany, they are counting down the days with the help of an Advent Calendar. Aunt MiMi sent them the Advent calendar just last week and according to her, they are all the rage in her new country. After using Wikipedia, I now know why - the origins of the Advent calendar comes from German Lutherans who, in the early 19th century, would count down the 24 days of Advent physically by drawing lines as they waited and prepared  for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. Eventually the tradition evolved to the form used today. 

There are all sorts of Advent calendars but the premise is the same. They all have little windows with numbers on them, and you start with 1 and count up to 24 (some go to 25) until you arrive at Christmas Day. And behind each window you get a small treat and on the final day, the treat is larger than the others before it.  Which is very exciting for kids. (I did read that some Advent Calendars show pictures of the Nativity behind each window - but I bet kids still go for the candy ones!) The particular brand Meredith sent is a Haribo Advent Calendar. And Haribo is of course the Germany company responsible for the ever popular gummi bears and other like confectioneries. So this afternoon, we opened up a few windows to catch up to the 7th and the surprises were awesome. Gummi cokes, gummi sours, gummi angels, gummi bears and a bracelet with pictures of gummi candy. Chapel and Eli were so excited. And they can't wait to open more - it is full of suspense and excitement, this Advent Calendar. So hats off to the Germans for thinking of this cool calendar and making it an even more awesome tradition by incorporating some tasty treats! I can't wait to see what the final window has in store.