I have something to show you.....
my homemade Advent Calendar!
I made this when my children were tiny, many years ago, probably about 2000. I decided that it was ludicrous to have four advent calendars on the wall, so I decided to create this one. I made it from two 'shoe carriers' which IKEA sold at the time, I'm not sure if they still sell them.
The rest is plain to see. I decorated each pocket with various fabrics and felt numbers which I hastily cut out on the last evening of November that year. I stuck everything down with Bondaweb and totally ruined my iron with all the sticky residue!
I had just completed a felt making course, so I used little swatches of the felt I'd made, plus some normal acrylic felt, pieces of shot silk, organza, glitter netting and various other bits'n'pieces. Can you guess how many '1's' and '2's' there are in the advent numbers? Quite a few to cut out.
My children loved this - still do. It's become a family heirloom. When they were little I used to fill the pockets with all sorts of things, sweets, 4 per person per day equals 96! I used to buy them all at the 'Pic 'n' Mix' counter at Woolworths, until its demise last Christmas, Waitrose isn't the same. I also used to include Pokemon cards, jokes, funny signs/sayings which I cut out of books, the kind that go on sale at Christmas for putting in Christmas stockings. Sometimes I used to fill it with parts of a game that would be completed by the 24th day. I always used to put something special in for the last day, an extra tiny toy, or some special chocolate.
Now the children are older, I just put a couple of sweets or a small bar of chocolate in, with just an occasional surprise as we go along. I still do something special for the 24th. I have been using the same napkins in the pockets since the beginning, so they're getting a little tatty now, but I like the continuity, using the same things year in, year out.
I love the fact that the children would be outraged if the calendar didn't go up each year. I have no intention of giving it to any of them. This is a tradition that will go on, and on. I will use it for my grandchildren too, if I'm lucky enough to have some one day. I intend to embellish it at some point with some embroidery...
It is my favourite Christmas tradition, closely followed by the decorating of the tree, which must be real and must be covered in all the tacky things in the box, and all the little things the children used to make at school years ago, which are now crumbling, salt dough angels and the like.
Henrietta just had to have the last word... Tom suggested that maybe 'she' was a 'he', a cock in fact, but I'm not prepared to countenance that idea! Did I tell you that she was actually a money box? Wishing you all a wonderful advent time, with special thoughts on World Aids Day, for all those suffering or affected.