Advent Calendars / Adventskalender

I remember the magic of Advent calendars when I was growing up. Each December, a beautifully illustrated calendar would hang in the kitchen; the more glitter it had, the better. There was something wonderful about searching for the tiny little door each day (and some days they were so hard to find) and opening it to reveal an even tinier illustration of something. Usually the calendars had 24 pictures on them, but if you were really, really lucky, there would be a nativity scene hidden behind a 25th door to be opened on Christmas day.

I've noticed over the years that in the USA, these simple Advent calendars seem to have been replaced with 'bigger and better' Advent calendars: chocolate calendars, a piece of chocolate rewarding the child each day, and fabric calendars, a small present filling a pocket each day. I never really understood why this switch happened. Weren't magical illustrations and glitter enough?

I thought for sure that in Austria, the land of cherished traditions, that Advent calendars, plain old traditional paper Advent calendars, would be everywhere. Alas, even here, chocolate calendars have taken over. There are also plenty of fabric calendars in all sorts of shapes (Christmas trees, presents, angels, ordinary rectangles) that you can fill with 24 of your own little presents. There are even Advent calendars that come with 24 presents already inserted in the bulky cardboard carton-like calendar. Playmobil and Lego have them, which means that these are probably available in the US too. Hofer even has a generic present calendar with 24 mystery gifts waiting to be opened.

I visited many stores looking for traditional Advent calendars here in Salzburg. I checked grocery stores and toy stores and book stores. I looked in our neighborhood, I looked downtown, I looked in the big shopping center down Alpenstrasse. And at last, in a small chain school supply store, I found them. Hidden on a bottom shelf below their fabric calendars and their present calendars and their chocolate calendars was a small pile of old fashioned Advent calendars, complete with glitter and beautiful illustrations. I bought one of each kind, so that Nikolas can experience Advent calendar tradition until he's five. Maybe by then, tradition will be back in fashion.

Yesterday, Nikolas opened the first door on his Advent calendar. He knows some numbers, but not all, and so will need guidance each day in finding the right door. He spent a long time looking at the illustration and pointing out all the beautiful things on it, and once we had found door #1 and he had opened it, he closed it so he could open it again. This morning, he went right to his calendar in search of door number 2 and longingly looked at the other numbers, wishing that he could open another one to see what was inside. Nikolas would love to have chocolate every day or a new toy every day. I know he would. But really, the magic of beautiful illustrations and glitter is all that anyone needs at this time of year.