Advent Calendars🎄

Rosie_Scope

It's December tomorrow, can you believe?! This year has flown by. And the beginning of December is also a fun excuse to have a tiny little treat every day.

I'm not religious but I have always been a big fan of Christmas as a holiday. We had a felt Advent Calendar when I was little where you'd add a decoration to a Christmas tree each day leading up to adding the star at the top. I still got a buzz out of it even though it wasn't edible, so I thought I'd give it a go making my own this year! My new calendar has a little woodland animal or a Christmas decoration to add to a big winter tree scene. I might also pop some chocolates in the pockets for an extra treat!

Do any of you get an advent calendar each year? Do you go for chocolate, sweets, or something else? Or did you ever get given a calendar growing up? I'd love to hear what your traditions are if you have any ☺️

Chris75_

Our advent calendar was always Jesus and the Magi type of thing. My mum was determined we were Christians. I got a smack round the head for telling the minister I didn't believe, lol.

She meant well i'm sure, but i truly believe one needs to find 'god' for themselves, not have it forced upon them.

Lol, I remember one Christmas, my non believing paternal grandfather asked my mum why me and sibling couldn't just stay at home and enjoy our toys! I bet that was a difficult family meal afterwards! I didn't really notice as was too interested in my presents.

vikingqueen

My daughter still moans at me when I don't buy her one…tells me I don't love her anymore… She is 41 with 3 children of her own 🙄

Rosie_Scope

That must have been tense @Chris75_, nothing like a Christmas family argument! Or just a bit of passive aggressive silence at the dinner table while you pass the gravy 😁

Haha @vikingqueen, you never stop being a mum even when they're grown 😂

Nightcity

my late nan brought me one yearly right up until I was about 20 bless her, alongside the latest now that's what I call Music CD, which she continued right up until I lost her 12 years ago.

I seldom eat chocolate at all these days. I think as I've got older I have less of a sweet tooth so It does nothing for me.

Rosie_Scope

What a great nan @Nightcity, that's so sweet of her. I often look at the Now CDs when I see them in charity shops. They're such a good little capsule of the time they were released.

I've enjoyed seeing that there are lots of non-chocolate advent calendars recently. I've seen ones with cheese, tea, wax melts, puzzles, candles, Lego. There's loads more variety these days although they do get a bit expensive compared to the casual little choc ones.

Nightcity

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1087347#Comment_1087347

oh that's interesting they do all those types, I do like scented candles which apparently is odd for a male.

regarding now volumes I still have 10-84 somewhere, I still collect films on physical media but not music, for the Radio station I have to keep up with new releases every Friday and listen and cherry pick what we are having as obviously I have to pay for it, it's nice to see amy McDonald still around and I've become to like newer people like teddy swims. But I have heard some absolutely dreadful new stuff lol

I may geta calendar next year now I know they do non chocolate ones

Trevor_PIP

@Rosie_Scope you are correct, this year has flown. I like the advent calendars too! Part of Christmas!

Rosie_Scope

Ooh that's an impressive collection of Nows @Nightcity! I still have a CD player in my car so I do enjoy a little CD purchase now and then. I'm actually thinking of buying a CD player for the house. I quite like the idea of listening to a CD from beginning to end and not facing ads or having to pay extra for a subscription. Clearly I am of the age where I've started to grumble about how good the olden days were 😂

It must be fun selecting music for the radio station each week. A nice way to stay in touch with any of the good new artists coming up even if you do have to listen to some rubbish sometimes!

@Trevor_PIP hasn't it just! I can't believe we're almost at 2026 already 😶

Nightcity

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1087350#Comment_1087350

absolutely I prefer the good old days, if you're ever interested the station is available on Alexa, Android app and any other internet connected radio and is ad free. we recently got James Ross join us he was on BBC London and hosts music shows on channel 5.

this looks interesting..

Mary_Scope

I agree, the year has absolutely flown!!

We used to have the traditional chocolate ones growing up and they were always a fun to start the day!

Anhedonia

I can't believe it is December. I love an advent calendar and get a £1 Cadbury one every year. Would you be willing to share photos of your woodland animal and decoration one @Rosie_Scope? It sounds really special.

Rosie_Scope

Here's the base tree before the decs go on it! I only learned to needle felt a few months ago so it's still a little wonky in places but it's something I can change and adapt as I get better at it.

Here's a few of the animals:

Florine

It's traditional - i.e. cardboard only - Advent calendars in this house. As far as we're concerned, they're a countdown to Christmas, not a way of providing pre-Christmas presents. Trouble is, they seem to be getting so much more polarised - if you get one with a nativity scene on it, or anything else religious, it seems that you only get religious piccies behind the doors, and if you get a more traditional "Christmassy" one all the pictures are secular, and we'd actually prefer a mixture of the two! But I wish the manufacturers would be a bit more informative about what the pictures are: one calendar I unsuspectingly picked up one year didn't even have any pictures, or even a Bible text - just Bible references like "Luke 1 v. 2-30". Yuck!

kitsmum

We had Advent Calendars growing up and we bought an advent house a few years ago and painted it. It now comes out every year (nearly forgot this year due to brain fog but my daughter gently nudged me!) We fill it with chocolates and it includes Christmas day which is good for us as a committed Christian Family. It is lovely to look at and we enjoy doing it. I am usually in our church Christmas Choir but am just too ill this year so I am not as joyful and full of Christmas excitement as usual so hopefully this will spark it off.

Annie015

I got a Bird & Blend Advent Calendar that has 2 tea bags in each numbered box and I love it so much 😍

elijahSC

we are a mixed-faith family (half my family are catholic, half are jewish but i was raised jewish and as far as i am aware, none of my immediate family are practicing catholicism anymore, although my extended family are). so we have a bit of an odd approach to a lot of christmas traditions. advent calendars are pretty much the only christmas thing i will do at home with my mum, because i don’t usually celebrate christmas unless i go stay with my dad and my half-siblings.

i never got chocolate advent calendars as a kid (i didn’t start getting them until around 9 or 10), i always got ones with stationary or lego and stuff like that.

now i default to tea, but this year my mum asked what kind i wanted and i said “i’d like a tea one but it would be really cool if there was one with little toy dinosaurs”, and i wasn’t being especially serious. lo and behold i now have a dinosaur advent calendar and i am quite pleased.

jonf

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1087347#Comment_1087347

Mary_Scope

Love that @Annie015!! Whats been your favourite tea so far?

Annie015

@Mary_Scope Oh I would say the Gingerbread Chai Tea, Cinnamon Tea and a few others.