Adventures in Advent: Advent 2024, Day 25

We made it to another Christmas. There's one last Advent calendar to explore. I know that I've featured an Advent that had a nativity scene. However, that calendar was more about the angels in the tree above the manager and not the story of Christ's birth. 

There are several Advent calendars out there in which you can build your own nativity scene. Most have figures that look more like Fisher Price people and they're great for little tykes. However I chose the advent from Flivoosh because it looked more like the nativity scene I had when I was younger. My nativity which I bought years ago by piecing together at Woolworth's after-Christmas sale looked like it was sculpted from marble. It had a Renaissance look and feel to it and despite being a Christmas decoration, I played with that thing for hours, arranging and rearranging the figures into the perfect lineup.

This advent has 24 windows which contain scenery, animals, the Wise Men and the Holy Family. There's even a piece that looks like the city of Jerusalem forming the background setting. I imagine that the first couple of days worth of offerings involve making up the set. with the scenery pieces. But hopefully, people like the shepherds will be available quickly. The most important thing is that the Baby Jesus is the gift for day 24. It was a rule in my family that the Christ Child couldn't go in the nativity until Christmas Day. I've heard that's been a tradition for many families as well. I really want that to be the case with this advent but since I don't own this set, I'm merely speculating.

Another thing this advent doesn't seem to have is a small instruction book. The listing on Amazon calls this an educational tool about the story of the First Christmas. However, unless a learned grown-up is available to explain all the parts that make up this nativity, there's not much teaching going to happen. I guess folks could always use a Bible. But I'd also like a kind of fact book that dug a little deeper into each daily addition to the manger scene.

And that's my 2024 Advent. I've hope you have enjoyed my adventures through the world of the advent calendar. Before I close, let's see what I received from the final envelope in my Batman Advent calendar...

Adventures in Advent: Advent 2024 Day 24

Santa comes tonight! For the penultimate Advent calendar of 2024, I returned to Solgarden in Mebane, North Carolina. They sell a really neat looking Countdown to Christmas which is 3-D printed and extremely clever.

The main structure is a red chimney. At the very top stands Santa Claus. Throughout the length of the chimney, there are these green planks that are numbered 1-24. Each day, you remove the plank with the corresponding number until on the 24th where you remove the final piece and Santa Claus plops right down into the fire place. 

It's rather brilliant. I'm not sure who manufactured it and I think the asking price was around $50. 

This calendar is very similar to the piece that inspired this year's theme. It's a wooden countdown of Nakatomi Plaza from the Bruce Willis holiday classic Die Hard. Starting from the top, the numbers start at 1 with 24 at the very bottom. Each day, as you get closer to Christmas Eve, you take the small figure of Alan Rickman's villainous Hans Gruber just a little bit closer towards going splat onto the parking lot below. As my brother in law says 'It's not Christmas until Hans Gruber falls off of Nakatomi Plaza.' With this Advent, he'd be right.

Before I dive into my Batman Advent gift for the day, I want to explain why I didn't choose to focus on the Die Hard advent yesterday or any other day. Why the honorable mention of sorts? Originally I was going to feature the Hans Gruber calendar for the 23rd and today be about Santa as I normally do. But as I got to thinking about it, I didn't want to feature two nearly identical concepts back-to-back. A last minute editorial call, I switched things up to keep things from getting stale. I hope you'll forgive my indulgence and enjoyed my picks regardless.

Adventures in Advent, Advent 2024, Day 23

If you've been a regular reader of my blog, then you'll know that I support endeavors that encourage children to read. You probably have also gathered that I love comic books and superheroes. One of my all-time favorite quotes about the importance of reading and how comic books can be used as such a tool for kids is by LeVar Burton of Reading Rainbow and Star Trek: The Next Generation Fame.

I feel like today's Advent really plays into the importance of reading and how the interest in subjects is vital if you want children to enjoy reading. It's the Marvel Storybook Collection Advent from Autumn Publishing. The calendar features 24 miniature storybooks recommended for readers 5-8 years of age. Each book is 24 pages long and features characters such as Spider-Man, The Guardians of the Galaxy and Fin Fang Foom! 

I recognize some of these titles from being listed in the past on the Midtown Comics website for sale in regular storybook size. Those titles retail for about $10 a piece. As this advent sells for $16.99, that's a tremendous value if you don't mind that these are smaller books. I know if I was a kid, I sure as heck wouldn't. They remind me of the tiny Little Golden Books that were readable complete tinier versions of the regular sized classics. And they had a gold string in order to hang on your tree as an ornament. 

I would have liked if these books were also ornaments. With a trusty hot glue gun and some ribbon, you could make that a DIY project with your child, if you like. What I'd really would have liked is for all 24 books to have been holiday themed. Alas, none of them are. Still, if your child is obsessed with the Marvel Universe don't let my opinion stop you from using this as a reading tool and a Countdown to Christmas 2025. Buy it now and be ready for when December 1st rolls back around next year!

Adventures in Advent: Advent 2024, Day 22

I've been complaining throughout this Advent how I hate it when the packaging ruins the surprises in store. Well I've finally discovered an Advent that not only do you not know what's inside, you don't even know which calendar door to open next!

Exit: The Game is a series of escape room themed board games. This year, game manufacturer Thames & Kosmos released a 24 Day long escape room adventure. Subtitled 'The Missing Hollywood Star', participants must solve a daily riddle. Only when you solve the puzzle, you only then discover which Advent calendar door you open the following day. Presumably, when you make it to Day 24, you'll locate the missing starlet. Though I reality, you should know where she is on Day 23, because the December 24th door will be the only one left unopened.

Best of luck that you get all of the puzzles correct. It would stink if you made a miscalculation and found the actress on Day 6

Another thing you'll need is time. The Amazon posting for this Advent recommends about 15 minutes per day to solve the daily enigma. This isn't an Advent that you'll be able to just rush through 

Adventures in Advent: Advent 2024, Day 21

If you follow my Advents annually, you'll know that I devote one of my days to the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. My wife is half Jewish and we celebrate the festival of lights by putting up a fire safe menorah (because we have cats) and decorate one of the trees in our yard with blue and white lights and decorations.

But 2024 is a bit of an anomaly. Hanukkah begins on December 25th and I always make sure to focus on the birth of Christ on my Christmas Day Advents. I also partially plan out my Advents weeks in advance and I've got my next 4 days set. Thankfully I didn't have a calendar selected for today and I'm able to continue my annual look at Hanukkah.

You might think that they don't make Hanukkah Advent calendars. Well, you'd be wrong. Instead of being 12, 24 or 25 days long, Hanukkah Advent calendars are only 8 nights- NOT DAYS- long. That's because of the miracle of the Temple in which God stretched out the oil for the lamps to last slightly over a week. Plus as with all Jewish days, they start a new at sundown- not midnight.

#1- Astor Chocolate sells a Hanukkah Chocolate Calendar. Filled with chocolate coins, called gelts,  made of dark chocolate and milk chocolate which is the currency of choice for the most serious of dreidel players. 

#2 on Etsy, seller Ohhappydayconfection offers a Hanukkah Countdown comprised of cookies and gummy candy. 

3. With seller Cubinizer on Amazon, you can make your own Hanukkah Countdown. You receive 8 small linen sacks that are numbered and bear classic Hanukkah images. Fill them with treats and goodies. Reuse yearly. 

4. Poshmark and other online sellers has felt  and fabric calendars similar to the one I had as a kid and reviewed for Day 1. It's a multicolored felt countdown equipped with 8 numbered candles. Each night you add a flame until you have the whole octet blazing.

5. Why should the humans have all the fun? Middle sells a Chanukah Countdown Calendar for cats! This countdown features 8 boxes being Hanukkah images filled with an assortment of balls, stuffed mice and more. Made of sturdy material, the boxes can be refilled and reused every year.

6. Make all 8 nights of Hanukkah a movie night (or TV marathon) with the Pop 'N Dulge Movie Night Popcorn Set. You receive 5 bags of corn for popping including a blue and ruby variety as well as 5 seasoning packs. I know that this adds up to 10. But 3 bags of popcorn are of the classic golden variety, so I think for 2 nights you're supposed to highlight the flavor packs and not the popcorn. Anyone for an Adam Sandler film festival?

7. Knitting your thing? Teeny Button Studio from Louisiana has an Advent where for 7 nights, you get a mini skein (length of yarn) of certain colors and for night #8 you receive a full sized speckled skein for a festive project.

8. Celebrate Hanukkah in luxury with Budhagirl's Hanukkah Advent calendar. Over the course of 8 days, you receive a variety of metallic all weather bangles from the noted French jewelry maker. A combined value of $350, the Advent is a bargain at $250 retail.

And there you have 8 Hanukkah Advent calendars. With 4 days until the double holiday, there's still time to get in on the action if you act now. And just so you know, I'm not a paid endorser for any of these companies. I just happened to be looking for Hanukkah gifts for my bride and this is what I came across. Best of luck and Shalom!

Adventures in Advent: Advent 2024, Day 20

Some Advent calendars like yesterday's offering are a feast for the eyes. Today's Advent calendar is music to my ears. Manufactured by Coppernrath, the standard cardboard poster board or display box is replaced with plastic and vinyl in the form of a gramophone, which is an old school record player.  (Kids, a record player was a device used to play music on large thin black discs.)

Since this is a miniaturization, the discs are about the size of a drink coaster. Select the corresponding day's disc, which are numbered from 1-24, insert into the center depression of the gramophone, place the needle over the disc and hit play. 

I haven't heard of most of the songs selected. Since this is a German made Advent calendar (Germany, by the way is the birthplace of the Advent calendar), I suspect those carols are from the Old Country. But there are some songs that should be familiar to American audiences such as Jingle Bells and Joy to the World. 

Throughout this Advent, I've been disappointed in the packaging spoiling the surprise of the Advent gifts. However, considering how many of these songs are ones I suspect not many have even heard of, the playlist on the back of the display box might actually be necessary in order to fully enjoy this unique Advent.

Adventures in Advent: Advent 2024, Day 19

Today's Advent features a location that is very near and dear to my heart. I've never visited it. But one year in high school (sophomore year, I think), I spent 31 class periods drawing an intricate landscape of this legendary locale: Neuschwanstein Castle.

Built from 1869-1886, the castle is located in the Alps of Southern Bavaria. This was intended to be the most ornate palace of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. He never officially lived at Neuschwanstein dying shortly before it's completion, drowning in a nearby lake. Ruled a suicide, there's debate that he might have been murdered by enemies, due to bruises on the body or if he died suddenly of a heart attack brought about by the frigid conditions of the water.

If Neuschwanstein Castle looks familiar, that's probably because you've seen it in movies. Spaceballs and Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang are among some of the films to have used the location as a set. The castle also served as inspiration for Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland and was recently an inspiration for a palace in a Pokemon animated feature.

When I drew Neuschwanstein, the scene was set during the spring or summer. In the Advent calendar I found, the setting is Christmas. Based on a famous image from a set of Bavarian beer steins of all things, the painting is of a snowy landscape at Christmas time with a sleigh arriving presumably for the beginning of a great feast. It's evening and the hundreds of windows of the royal residence is illuminated by candlelight.

The calendar is made of double thick cardboard. On each corresponding day, you open a tiny door to reveal images of the interior of Neuschwanstein and the surrounding area. There's also a portrait of King Ludwig II to discover. Speaking of discoveries, let's see what I got from my Batman Advent today...

Adventures in Advent: Advent: 2024, Day 18

It's time for some more Advent calendars that I found during a recent shopping trip to Mebane. Back at Solgarden, after I discovered the Advent I reviewed on Day 14, I found this set of scratcher Advents.

They look like a cross between the board bingo games you'd play with as a kid in the back of your parents card and a lottery ticket. Each board came with 25 numbered circles which when scratched would reveal an image. I noticed 3 distinct themes, 'Icons of Christmas', musical instruments and dogs. To better capture the calendar aspect, the back of the board had cardboard cutouts in which an easel type stand could be erected so that the calendar could stand up by itself.

I seemed to only have taken 1 photo of the icons calendar. I tried to Google the others in order to show what they look like to no success. However I learned that many companies make scratch-off Advents. Many just reveal a random image. But there's some really neat ones that when the proper window is scratched off, it challenges you to do something festive and fun. For example, the Starry Night Scratch Off Advent Calendar from Pinhole Press encourages you to do things such as 'Go Christmas Shopping' and 'Watch A Holiday Movie'. 

Some similar Advents inspire you to help others. The Scratch Off Kindness Advent from Catholic Supply of St. Louis has you perform little random acts to spread the joy of Christmas, such as 'Donate a Toy' or to 'Hug Someone.' The interesting thing about this calendar is that there are no numbers on any of the scratcher circles. You get 5 sheets of scratcher stickers that you place however you want on the blank Advent calendar. Once all 25 are affixed, you could go in order from left to right or make it completely random and scratch whichever window you like! I'm actually thinking about buying one for next year. It's seems really fun!

Adventures in Advent: Advent 2024, Day 17

If you've got $1,200, then today's featured Advent calendar is for you. It's the Swarovski Advent Calendar 2024 edition. An annual offering, this year's theme is a snowy journey on a holiday train; all in shining clear crystal. 

Boxed in a luxurious red Swarovski box with gold lettering and a red bow, the box opens like a book with windows numbered 1-25. Unlike a majority of the Advents I've researched for my posts, this Calendar has a present for you on Christmas Day. Based on the price, you ought to get enough prizes to cover the 12 days of Christmas that come about after December 25th! 

Recipients of this Advent are basically collecting 2 things: a 7 piece crystal choo-choo and a number of miniature ornaments complete with tiny ribbons for hanging. Not everything is just clear and colorless. Some of the ornaments have accents of green, red and brown. Items like the reindeer have black dots for eyes. The connectors on the train pieces have finishes of gold. 

Being made of crystal, this Advent is pretty hefty. It weighs over 7 pounds! Some of you can debate the price of this Advent being a negative. To me, the biggest disappointment is that the surprise of this Advent is ruined by a cheat sheet on the back of the box. So if you don't want to know what's in store, avoid the back of this Advent!

Adventures in Advent: Advent 2024, Day 16

 It's Monday and that means Monday Night Football. Unless the schedule changes drastically, the Chicago Bears are expected to head to Minneapolis to play the Minnesota Vikings (I write my Advent posts a few days in advance. So if 2 different teams are now on the schedule to play instead of Bears/Vikings, I'm sorry.)

Since there's football today I thought I'd look at an Advent calendar devoted to the pigskin. The one I selected is the NFL Funko 24 Day Countdown Calendar. Each corresponding day you open up the correct door and unearth a miniature vinyl figure of the most popular players in the league. There's a Patrick Mahommes, a Lamar Jackson and a T.J. Watt among the players to be found in this Advent. 

While you don't know which player you will receive, you do know which team that they play for. That's because each door is designed to look like a Christmas ornament with 1 of 24 different teams logos on it. You might be wondering 'aren't there 32 teams currently in the NFL?', and you'd be right. If you are a fan of the Carolina Panthers, Washington Commanders or the New England Patriots, you are out of luck. Sorry, no Bears either.

You've got to really be a fan of the league to enjoy this set. What true Steelers fan is going to want a player from divisional rivals, the Cleveland Browns? 

Don't expect custom work either. While the D.K. Metcalf figure is black, there are no distinguished features among these Funko Pops unlike their regular sized counterparts who has a ton of tattoos on both arms. 

Adventures in Advent: Advent 2024, Day 15

This was another Advent I found in Mebane North Carolina the other day. We went to the Sweet Grace Market at the Melville Trading Company where I found a handful of this calendar: the Harry Potter/Jelly Belly Advent Calendar 2024. With days 1-24, you get 1 of 10 randomly inserted flavors which include cinnamon, toasted marshmallow and candy floss. For those of you who don't know, candy floss is what Brits call cotton candy.

Too bad that Jelly Belly didn't make this a Bertie Botts selection of flavors. They still license the  'Every Flavor' brand of Harry Potter inspired jelly beans. So why couldn't they have used ear wax and toothpaste flavor instead of green apple and cherry? And would it have been too much of a problem to include some of Jelly Belly's holiday flavors like egg nog and peppermint? No Bertie Botts and no holiday flavors. Just seems like a missed opportunity if you ask me...

Adventures in Advent: Advent 2024, Day 14

I went shopping in Downtown Mebane, North Carolina with my wife and her family. While there, I came across several Advent calendars that stuck my fancy. At Solgarden, an eclectic shop of clothing, antiques and funky items you didn't know that you needed was this awesome Advent that brings Santa Claus closer to your home with each passing day.

The majority of the calendar is a wooden track with the numbers 1-23 marking tiny holes. A small red house at the end is designated #24. Every morning, you take a ceramic Santa inside his sleigh, with metal runners and place him in the corresponding day. On Christmas Eve, Santa makes it to the top of the house. Along the side of the piece in embossed red letters is the phrase 'Here Comes Santa Claus.'

This Santa tracker is manufactured by Demdaco. There was a price for it at Solgarden. A quick Google search revealed a MSRP of $65.00! That's a bit too rich for my blood. But it was really cool.

Adventures in Advent: Advent 2024, Day 13

Today's featured Advent calendar is another from my past. This one was owned by my grandmother and at the time I didn't know it was considered an Advent calendar. I just considered it a countdown to Christmas calendar, which I know is basically what an Advent calendar is. However, it wasn't until the other day when I was scrolling my Facebook feed that I learned that this was marketed as an Advent.

Sold in the 1980s by the Avon company, the Countdown to Christmas Advent Calendar with handmade mouse was an annual staple offered by the famed cosmetics company. If I remember correctly, one of my grandmother's aunts sold Avon from her beauty salon. So that must be how she got it. The idea with this calendar, which was made of fabric stuffed with filling, was that Santa and his wife are enjoying cocoa by the fire in anticipation for Christmas. Underneath the scene are 24 pockets with a tiny mouse. Each day that you got closer to Christmas Eve, you put the mouse in that corresponding slot. Why a mouse? I think it has something to do with the line about 'not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse' line from T'was The Night Before Christmas.

This calendar was found by an antique shopper and posted on a group for those who like finding treasured memories at second hand and antique stores. Their photo helped trigger the memory of this item that hung every year either in my Grandmother's den or living room, depending on her decorative mood. In the days since writing up this blog post, at least 2 other shoppers have found Avon mice Advents at 2 other thrift stores nationwide!

I learned researching this item that some fans have created an alternative way to get closer to Christmas. Instead of moving the mouse to a new pocket each day, they've instead bought extra mice. Once you have 24 mice in all 24 sleeves, it's time for Christmas. Sellers on Etsy, Amazon and eBay sell packs of 3-5 mice in order to achieve this method of using the Avon Advent. It's up to you whether you want your rodents to all look like the 80s original or have a slightly differing style appearance.