belated christmas calendar

it is the second christmas i can remember not having a christmas calendar. (actually last year there was one but it arrived too late for me to use.) ever since i was a child there would be a calendar with milk chocolates in 24 hidden windows for me to open to make waiting for christmas easier. it would just magically appear on december 1 as is custom.

now i see them increasingly around here in the united states. usually someone gives it to you rather than you buying one for yourself. so i've abstained although the giant supermarket -- giant is the brand not the size, it is for u.s. standards medium-sized, sort of like a decent-sized kaufland -- around the corner offered two different cardboard calendars, both filled with little milk chocolate figures behind 24 doors. one shows santa claus and a tree, the other one more of a snowy world. part of the fun is finding the 24 numbers on the busy picture. world market usually sells the calenders, too, as does the german aldi supermarket and i think target stores not to mention stores specializing on german fare.

but now i found another, actually more interesting kind of christmas calendar. they've been around, too: digital ones often offered by german newspapers to click on little windows.

the one i found this season is neat because it comes from the german embassy. hence it is about germany but has english explanations. and you can still go back to the first three days! not to spoil the surprises completely, the windows so far make you want to sing along, ask for your help to save santa on a wild ride, and entice you want to warm up the oven right away!

long story short: have fun counting down to the 24th!

by the way, if you try to open a future window, a little reminder that it's not time yet will put you back in place. that's another advantage compared to the chocolate companion, which often is plundered ahead of time. (in all honesty i never did that because i thought the calendar was too holy to go against the rules). it also speaks, in my mind, to the german tradition of waiting in anticipation rather than making a day into a range of days as often done around birthdays etc in the united states.

url: http://www.studiofo.com/adventCalendar/