Today, we'll look at Advent Calendars, rather than the Advent Wreath. Whereas the Advent Wreath focuses on the birth of Christ, Advent Calendars can be fun, whimsical, simple, elaborate, religious, related to one of your favorite hobbies or collections...the sky is the limit! Wherever your imagination takes you is what can be used to count the days from December 1st until Christmas.
For many, the celebration and anticipation of Christmas doesn’t start until after the Thanksgiving leftovers are eaten and the frenzy of Black Friday is a memory. Once that happens, the attention turns to getting ready for Christmas - starting the first day of December which ceremoniously includes - an ADVENT CALENDAR. Of course, there are some (like us) who make this preparation all year, but still, who can resist the magic of counting the days until Christmas starting December 1st using an Advent calendar?!
Like many other aspects of modern Christmas practices, the Advent calendar is of German origin. German Protestants marked the days of Advent either by burning a candle for the day or, more simply, marking walls or doors with a line of chalk each day. This practice began during the nineteenth century. Then, a new practice of hanging a devotional image every day led to the creation of the first known handmade, wooden, Advent calendar in 1851. Sometime in the early twentieth century (either 1902 or 1908 depending on who you believe) the first printed calendars appeared, followed by Gerhard Lang’s innovation of adding small doors in the 1920s. Others added short bible verses behind the doors alongside the traditional picture from the 1930s. Cardboard was rationed and with a Nazi ban on printing calendars with images, the calendars disappeared. After the war ended Richard Sellmar of Stuttgart almost miraculously (considering the paper shortages) obtained a permit from the US officials to begin printing and selling them again. His company Sellmar-Verlag, this year celebrating its 70th anniversary, remains one of the most important producers of such calendars.[1] Calendars filled with chocolate began to appear from the late 1950s around the time that they also began to spread around the world. President Eisenhower is sometimes credited with the American popularisation of them having been photographed while opening them with his grandchildren.[2] Today they are a global phenomenon, even seeing a boost in popularity in recent years[3] but at their heart they retain the essence of counting down the days to Weihnachten that began with those simple chalk scratches.
By Alex Wakelam
Edited by: Jane Ellerbe
[1] http://www.sellmer-verlag.de/shop2/index.php
[2] http://www.sellmer-verlag.de/shop2/images/eisenhower.jpg
[3] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/8173180/Advent-calendar-sales-boom.html
An advent calendar has always been one of my favorite parts of Christmas. I can remember my parents getting my two sisters and myself one with the chocolates. I purchased various chocolate ones for my own children when they were little and now purchase them for my grandsons.
However, the one that takes center stage at our house portrays the progression toward the birth of Christ. I don’t remember where I purchased it, but I’ve had it for many years. Along with the advent ornaments, is a booklet that is read from each day about how that ornament relates to Christmas and the birth of Christ.
An Advent Calendar can be as simple or as elaborate (and expensive) as one wants it to be.
This link has many that can be fun with children:
https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/homemade-advent-calendar-christmas-countdown/
If you’re more into experiences for Advent, here are some ideas that could be fun and simple.
https://www.mothermag.com/experience-advent-calendar/#:~:text=*Make holiday cookies or a,to watch with the kiddos).
Maybe you’re looking for something that isn’t candy…for someone who has a medical condition or allergy that keeps them from eating those candy-laden Advent Calendars.
https://www.roseclearfield.com/non-candy-stocking-stuffers/
If you’re never tried an Advent Calendar, maybe this is the year you'd like to give it a try. It’s one of the best ways to celebrate the anticipation of Christmas each day in December.
Leave your best ideas for an Advent Calendar below – what to put in them, ways to present each “treat,” ideas you've seen and used or just ones you've seen that you really liked.
For many, the celebration and anticipation of Christmas doesn’t start until after the Thanksgiving leftovers are eaten and the frenzy of Black Friday is a memory. Once that happens, the attention turns to getting ready for Christmas - starting the first day of December which ceremoniously includes - an ADVENT CALENDAR. Of course, there are some (like us) who make this preparation all year, but still, who can resist the magic of counting the days until Christmas starting December 1st using an Advent calendar?!
Like many other aspects of modern Christmas practices, the Advent calendar is of German origin. German Protestants marked the days of Advent either by burning a candle for the day or, more simply, marking walls or doors with a line of chalk each day. This practice began during the nineteenth century. Then, a new practice of hanging a devotional image every day led to the creation of the first known handmade, wooden, Advent calendar in 1851. Sometime in the early twentieth century (either 1902 or 1908 depending on who you believe) the first printed calendars appeared, followed by Gerhard Lang’s innovation of adding small doors in the 1920s. Others added short bible verses behind the doors alongside the traditional picture from the 1930s. Cardboard was rationed and with a Nazi ban on printing calendars with images, the calendars disappeared. After the war ended Richard Sellmar of Stuttgart almost miraculously (considering the paper shortages) obtained a permit from the US officials to begin printing and selling them again. His company Sellmar-Verlag, this year celebrating its 70th anniversary, remains one of the most important producers of such calendars.[1] Calendars filled with chocolate began to appear from the late 1950s around the time that they also began to spread around the world. President Eisenhower is sometimes credited with the American popularisation of them having been photographed while opening them with his grandchildren.[2] Today they are a global phenomenon, even seeing a boost in popularity in recent years[3] but at their heart they retain the essence of counting down the days to Weihnachten that began with those simple chalk scratches.
By Alex Wakelam
Edited by: Jane Ellerbe
[1] http://www.sellmer-verlag.de/shop2/index.php
[2] http://www.sellmer-verlag.de/shop2/images/eisenhower.jpg
[3] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/8173180/Advent-calendar-sales-boom.html
An advent calendar has always been one of my favorite parts of Christmas. I can remember my parents getting my two sisters and myself one with the chocolates. I purchased various chocolate ones for my own children when they were little and now purchase them for my grandsons.
However, the one that takes center stage at our house portrays the progression toward the birth of Christ. I don’t remember where I purchased it, but I’ve had it for many years. Along with the advent ornaments, is a booklet that is read from each day about how that ornament relates to Christmas and the birth of Christ.
An Advent Calendar can be as simple or as elaborate (and expensive) as one wants it to be.
This link has many that can be fun with children:
https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/homemade-advent-calendar-christmas-countdown/
If you’re more into experiences for Advent, here are some ideas that could be fun and simple.
https://www.mothermag.com/experience-advent-calendar/#:~:text=*Make holiday cookies or a,to watch with the kiddos).
Maybe you’re looking for something that isn’t candy…for someone who has a medical condition or allergy that keeps them from eating those candy-laden Advent Calendars.
https://www.roseclearfield.com/non-candy-stocking-stuffers/
If you’re never tried an Advent Calendar, maybe this is the year you'd like to give it a try. It’s one of the best ways to celebrate the anticipation of Christmas each day in December.
Leave your best ideas for an Advent Calendar below – what to put in them, ways to present each “treat,” ideas you've seen and used or just ones you've seen that you really liked.