I totally have a thing for advent calendars. Countdowns of any sort, really. They make me happy.
This year we have three.
First up, we have our Christmas story countdown. Every year we wrap up 23 Christmas books and put them under the tree. (Except that this year Emma was in charge of wrapping the books and she quit at number 18. We’ll have to remedy that tonight.) (And also Joshua is refusing to let us wrap The Velveteen Rabbit. He wants to be able to read it every night, and who can blame him? The Velveteen Rabbit should be every child’s favorite story.) Then each night, right before bedtime, the whole family (even Sarah! and usually one or more of Sarah’s friends!) gathers around the Christmas tree and one lucky book gets unwrapped and read. Each year the kidlets save The Littlest Angel until the very last day and then make Todd read it, because it always makes him cry. It’s the highlight of their Christmas season.
Next, we have the Coolest. Advent. Evar.
That’s right – It’s a Lego Christmas Countdown. We got the snowman on the 1st, the little boy on the 2nd, and the skateboard and ramp on the 3rd. This calendar is providing hours of entertainment for the wee ones. First they get to build the characters, then Bitsy smashes them and loses the pieces, then we all get to go on a desperate search and rescue mission through the house because Joshua will not rest until all of the tiny Lego parts have been restored to their rightful place. Hours of entertainment, I tell ya.
Sk8trboi has gone rogue – run, Mr. Snowman, RUN!
Pop quiz – what’s missing?
Answer – one baseball cap, one helmet, one skateboard, two swords, and a snowman head.
We found the snowman head, but something still seems to be off…
And finally, we have Advent Fail.
This is my very own personal advent calendar. It is hanging on my kitchen wall. (It is probably wishing that I had ironed it before hanging it up.) Each of those pockets contains some chocolatey goodness, in the form of Kit-Kats and Snickers. Every day, we can each pick one candy out of the appropriately numbered pocket. Here’s the problem:
This is the #19 pocket. It’s empty.
So is #23.
In fact, the two bottom rows are completely empty. So are most of the top pockets. And today is December 3rd.
It would appear that someone has been sneaking candy. Maybe even several someones. Maybe eight someones.
This morning I ate my first candy at 7:15 am.
This leaves me with a dilemma. Should I refill the calendar? Should I leave it empty so that it can mock our lack of self-discipline every time we walk past it? Should I fill it with nasty candy that nobody wants to eat?
All of these questions have left me with a headache. It’s a good thing that I just happen to know where to find some chocolate.
Keeping Up With the Jameses 