I LOVE A GOOD ADVENT!

The Advent Calendar has become a tradition in many homes around the world. Like so many Christmas traditions it originated in Germany in the early 19th. century. They would light a candle every night of the 24 nights leading to Christmas Eve and put up a small religious picture. The first cardboard Advent was made by Gerharg Lung. When he was a child his mother would tie little candies to a piece of board. He later made them from cardboard with little pictures to open.

You can buy ready made Advent Calenders of every shape and size. I used to buy the regular ones with the chocolates for our son but after a while I started to make my own. I would take branches and make a little tree and tie little candies and small gifts in tissue paper and attach a number tag to each one and tie them to the branches with ribbon. I still remember the excitement my son would have every morning when he got to open one. Even though he is now an adult those are the memories he still talks about.

I have found some lovely Advents to show you today. Some are homemade and some are quite elaborate but they all count down to Christmas the same way. I do not think you have to just have one for a child, it would be fun to make one for that special someone in you life too.

Many Advents use little boxes for the treasures. They can easily be made. Just use any small cardboard boxes from jewelry or get some from the craft store. Use old wrapping paper or glitter. Glue them onto a wrapped board and you can reuse it every season.

I just love these two. Very shabby chic. I could see these used for adults. I would hang them up all year!

These are some really elaborate ones. I like the little doors.

Santa's sack is adorable. The stockings and tins would be easy to do.

Whether you make your own Advent Calendar, buy a really expensive one or go with the cute traditional chocolate ones, it is a really nice tradition to carry on with your family. I am off now to put my thinking cap (or Santa's Hat) on and come up with a real cute one for our little grandbaby.