Sunday, December 12, 2010

The adventures of 1 Advent Calendar and 2 Kids...

(Guest Blogger)
Advent Calendars
So here we all are, counting down the days until the Fat Man visits.  I’ve noticed all the comments on facebook and like many of you, we too have an advent calendar (thanks Ma-Ma and Grandad, that was a very special visit from the postlady).  
To my mind, an advent calendar gives a visual reminder and countdown to Christmas Day.  As a child, I would be so excited to receive it in the mail from my own grandparents, and ‘negotiate’ a roster of door-opening with my siblings.  It was all fairly well executed and reminded us of the religious nature of the event, because in those days there was no chocolate inside, only parts of the Christmas story so that when all the doors were read in sequence, the full story of Mary & Joseph & baby Jesus was revealed.
Now my kids have their advent calendar and it’s a totally different affair.  We have Rudolph on the front and chocolate inside.  The only mystery to it is the shape  embossed on the chocolate.  Every morning we open a door and get the chocolate, and usually share it without too many hassles. 
The problems actually start approximately 30 seconds after the calendar is put back on the shelf, when Miss 18mths says “chocolate” (in her own special way) and tries to climb up to get more.  When I say no, she throws herself kicking and screaming onto the floor.  Then Mr 3 joins in with the “why not” and instantly it’s total chaos.  This scenario repeats a few times a day and seriously, I can’t stand the calendar!  Meanwhile the ants got stuck into it overnight so we’ve had to clean off and re-engineer the whole thing. 
Instead of bringing the joy of anticipation to our December, the chocolate has brought tantrums (theirs) and tears (mine).  Next year I’m talking to Ma-Ma and Grandad about finding some religion instead!  Does anyone know where to buy non-chocolate calendars???
Postscript…
It’s all over… Mr 3 found the stash of chocolate in the fridge this morning, where we had hidden it (badly) to protect it from ants and children.  He came to me this morning with chocolate literally spilling out of his mouth.  For this year at least, the dream is over!

1 comment:

  1. We dont do the chocolate count down - I personally dont think that the kids get anything out of it.

    We still do advent and it is LOTS of fun. I have a little tree with matchboxes hanging from them and each day one of the kids (of which I have two) take it in turns to select a box. Inside is a piece of paper and I read it to the kids - this is a special thing that we do for that day.

    I feel that this extends the excitement of the Christmas period and makes Christmas day feel a little less for the retailers.

    Here is a blog post that I did a few years ago to show the tree.

    http://craftedbykylie.blogspot.com/2007/11/its-beginning-to-feel-alot-like.html

    ReplyDelete