And if so, what kind was it? (You can vote for more than one.)
If you’d like, you can mention about when you were a child…
Me: Yes, I had one most years. It was always a cardboard one with pictures behind the doors.
(If there’s anyone who doesn’t know what we’re talking about, it’s a calendar given to kids in homes that celebrate Christmas, with one door or pocket or package for each day from the 1st to the 24th of December. It was probably invented by someone who was tired of hearing his or her kids ask how many days left until Christmas for the fifth time this morning :D)
I was a child in the 70s. I had a calendar most years, sometimes with pictures behind each door (Christmas Eve usually had double doors), and sometimes with chocolates behind each door.
We’ve always had advent calendars for December. Not just as a child; my mom still buys them for all her kids (I’m kind of hoping she gets one for my five-month-old this year, because then I can have his candy ). Not sure if it’s the same as your first poll option, though - they’re cardboard, but they have waxy little chocolates in the shape of presents, christmas trees, etc. behind each door. My mom gets them for about $5 at the commissary.
Yes, but your poll options aren’t quite right, if you’re differentiating between cardboard and commercial - it was a cardboard one with chocolate behind the doors. And the chocolate was always, even to me as a kid, pretty minging.
These days my daughter gets one cardboard one (because to me that is tradition) and one fabric one in which I put tiny gifts. I’ve also got ones for my GF and my cat.
I never had one as a kid.
We get them for my kids. Up until last year, it was the cardbaord, non-candy ones. Last year, my daughter got herself the LEGO one, and we got my son one with the tiny chocolates.
This year, my daughter and I made one. It’s been quite a project and it’s not yet finished, but it is a double layer of poster board, with pictures she has drawn in the 25 (she wanted one to open on Christmas, too) squares and doors that she’ll be able to pry open each day.I’m actually darn impressed with our effort.
Yep, each day had a little scene with Mary & Joseph & friends behind the little door. Each day you couldn’t wait to uncover what the next day would bring. It was a masterpiece of design to draw out and keep up children’s interest in the religious observances day after day for a month. With the big payoff being Baby Jesus shining with yellow rays of light from the manger. Anything that could sustain kids’ attention for that long shows some sophisticated design, psychologically. You know, I hadn’t recalled this subject in over 40 years…
Of course, back in the 70s it was strictly cardboard-with-nativity-pictures, whereas now it’s chocolate and branded by some children’s cartoon character. I rather miss the pictures.
While “countdown” order makes sense, that’s not how we used them when I was a kid: they were just calendars, so the chocolate behind door 4 got eaten on December 4th, etc. I can’t recall if the calendars came with instructions on which order to go in.
I had commercial calendars with both chocolates or pictures depending on what my parents were able to find. I was never much of a chocolate fan, even as a child, so I have fonder memories of the picture-only calendars.
I’d never even heard of home-made advent calendars until now, although I can see how making one with your child would make for a memorable Christmas experience.
My mother, and then my mother and my sister always made one for us. Its was hand drawn or painted on heavy watercolor paper, usually. Pictures behind the doors, sometimes very funny, sometimes just sweet or seasonal, but all hand done. Lovely
No candy behind doors, that’s… wrong somehow. (But then I’m an old fuddy-duddy)
I must say I have never heard about an advent calendar used for “counting down”. What heathen earthling wrote is the only way I can think of, especially as the pictures behind the doors are often related to that particular date.
My mother is German, so we always had one. They were cardboard with the pictures when we were little, then when we were older, we had the ones with the chocolate. I remember the cardboard ones being really pretty. And, the last door that was opened on the 24th, was always a double door with a lovely picture of the holy family in the stable.
We also always had an Advent wreath on the dining room table and at Sunday dinner each kid would have turn lighting a candle. Oh, and we would put our shoes out before we went to bed on St. Nicholas day too - there would be chocolate and nuts in them when we woke up.
“Homemade one, with doors and pictures.” May artictically-inclined mother had made it with felt and Hallmark cards. I didn’t see my option in the list, so I went with the closest one – #2.
Yup. And our classes at parochial school had collective ones.
My sister and I send each other Advent calendars every year. It’s a competition to see who can send one first. I won this year.
The cards were invariably ones with little pictures or verses behind the doors. I didn’t even see ones with actual objects until the past couple of decades. This year I got one with chocolate behind the doors. Several years ago I got ione with ornaments behind each door. But they’re almost all broken now.
We usually had two: a regular cardboard one with doors, and a handmade wooden one that my mom bought before I was born. It was in the shape of Santa, and there were twenty-five small pegs on it, and on each one you’d hang a tiny heart with the date on it, except for the 25th, which was a tiny Christmas tree. Miraculously, we never lost a single heart.
I begged my mom to get a cardboard one with chocolate one year, but that was a one-time thing after I discovered that the chocolate was pretty gross.
). Not sure if it’s the same as your first poll option, though - they’re cardboard, but they have waxy little chocolates in the shape of presents, christmas trees, etc. behind each door. My mom gets them for about $5 at the commissary.
