December has begun once again and this can only mean one thing – time to start opening those advent calendars. But when are we too old for advent calendars?
My answer, never!
No one can deny the tiny moment of excitement we feel when we open our advent calendars and eat the Christmas–y shaped chocolates underneath. It’s the one piece of Christmas magic that remains as you move into your late teens and early twenties. The majority of us have them, and those who don’t relish in the joy of getting to open a door on someone else’s.
Posted all over Facebook towards the end of November were various pictures of the different advent calendars people have bought, ranging from the Cadbury’s classic to themed ones such as Glee or Disney. This is the one time of the year that it is okay to let your inner child out and begin the exciting build up for Christmas.
The idea of the advent calendar is to mark the beginning of Advent, however, this changes from year to year and instead more of a count down idea has taken over and replaced the original meaning, and now the calendars always begins on the 1st of December. The origins of the advent calendar came from towards the end of the 19th Century when German Lutherans counted down the days of December physically by either drawing a simple chalk line or used more creative ways such as lighting a candle everyday. More modern calendars use two pieces of card on top of each other to create a door system, which is opened everyday to reveal a surprise such as chocolate. Some calendars can be cloth sheets with pockets in that are filled with a surprise too. Recently there has been an emergence of online advent calendars that can be clicked on to reveal a motivating/ inspirational message. Although, without the daily incentive chocolate, I don’t see this type of calendar taking off!
If you’re anything like me an advent calendar doesn’t just tell you how long is left till Christmas, it tells you how many days left you have to shop for those all-important family Christmas presents that you haven’t yet bought!
In my opinion I believe that advent calendars have proved that they aren’t just for children to use to count down the days till Christmas; they’re for adults too, and no matter what age you are, it is still acceptable to have one. If you don’t have one, go and get one and let the magic of Christmas begin!
Long live the advent calendar!
