Where's my Advent Calendar?

[John in Covina]

Whe I was little there was a gap from the end of summer, past Halloween to just about Thanksgiving where most places did not have the Christmas decorations up in the stores and Christmas music wasn't drifting down from the PA system.

Friends and family were more into church going and there was this Season of Advent they kept talking about.
My mom would go shopping some place and bring home Advent Calendars for my brother and I.
The one thing is each day on the calendar had a little door and some of the doors had a little piece of chocolate behind them!

Hadn't thought much about it but leaving Ikea some weeks ago i saw a display with Advent calendars and a snippet of childhood memories came back. It seems that little traditions are getting swept aside by corporate Christmas.


Any winter holiday traditions that you recall, that seem to be disappearing in your your lifetime?


When was the last ime you had Carolers come to your house? In high school we went caroling. Does anyone still go?

 

[tridentine]

Christmas does not begin until 12 midnight December 24, and goes through the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6.

12 Days of Christmas.

We put up our tree after midnight Mass, at our home, where we have a chapel and a priest friend offers the Sacrifice at midnight.

We keep our tree up to Candlemas Feb 2.

We are in the Advent season now, not Christmastide.

 

[vitanola]

Yes, but one particular media empire appears to be cloaking a war on Advent under the spurious title of "The War on Christmas".

 

[LizzieMaine]

Ribbon candy. Nobody has ribbon candy anymore. Ribbon candy and peach blossoms and other such things we were given at Sunday School on the last Sunday before Christmas. To my knowledge none of us ever actually ate it, because it had a faintly sacred air about it, as though we'd be struck dead for munching on it during the sermon.

Christmas Eve there was always a candlelight service, preceded by a pageant in which all the Sunday School kids were expected to learn and recite "a piece." My first appearance on stage was at one of these events, and I can remember sweating to learn the piece, but now, forty-five years later, I have completely forgotten it.

 

[tonyb]

Every year about this time I get to asking people how they are weathering this Most Holy of Retail Seasons.

But I still dig it, even if my personal participation these days is limited to not much more than taking in the sights, sounds and smells of the downtown retail district during the holiday rush and watching other people scurry about with their bags full o' swag. And there's usually an occasion or two for puttin' on the dog, and that can be fun.

The little kids I know are waaaay into it, of course, bless their mercenary little hearts. And the older I get the more I believe that the Santa Claus thing is more for the amusement of the grownups than anything it might do for the kids (apart from the booty, of course). It's big kicks listening to 5- and 6-year-olds ponder just how Santa manages to get into houses (and apartments) without chimneys. I heard one such young gentlemen theorize that Santa must miniaturize himself and come in through dryer vents. Another kid was all concerned that Santa might not be able to get into the mobile homes in the park where he lives. His mother assured him that Santa and the park manager had it all worked out, seeing how they've done this every year going back at least 20 of them, which is bumping up against prehistory, as far as that kid is concerned. It seemed to have eased his worried mind.

 

[LocktownDog]

When I was a child, my grandparents would still wassail the apple tree and leave offering to the fairies on the solstice. I planted an apple tree at my place just for this purpose. Cookies and cider for whoever's watching.

 

[sheeplady]

My parents were never big on holidays. Oftentimes, we got our tree the day before. When I was about 8, I started decorating it. After about 12, if we wanted a tree it was my responsibility to coordinate cutting it (or later putting up the artificial) and then dress it by myself. Likewise, if we wanted anything special for dinner I needed to plan it. My husband grew up in a family that was only slightly more involved (they put up the tree together, for instance, but didn't do anything special).

Needless to say, I've gone the the extremes of decorating for the holidays. I put up several trees (all artificial because we don't have reason for a real one). On the 21st we eat by candlelight and the lights I've put up. I have an advent calendar and want to make one out of old jean pockets for our children that I can put treats in. For me, it's about exploring and making our own traditions. We will dress the tree together as a family and we'll go out and cut one as a family. I've already instituted certain things I do at the holiday- I serve turkey, for instance, with sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, chocolate cake, and a yule log cake. I would like to take a walk on the day of too, that will be the new tradition probably starting next year.

I think that if you really want to have a tradition, take it. There's no reason why you can't carry on any tradition you like. They all came from someplace.

 

[sheeplady]

When I was a child, my grandparents would still wassail the apple tree and leave offering to the fairies on the solstice. I planted an apple tree at my place just for this purpose. Cookies and cider for whoever's watching.

This is an awesome idea. I'm going to steal it. Did your family celebrate any other winter holiday(s) besides the solstice?

 

[St. Louis]

I have an advent calendar now -- I get one every year. When I was a child we had an advent wreath and lit the candles in the proper order, sang carols and prayed each Sunday before Christmas. I was an army brat, so my mother (who was German) taught us her customs. That also included St. Nikolaus Day, which occurs on Dec. 6, and meant that we got little presents in our shoes if we were good. We always celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve, and once we were old enough our parents took us to Midnight Mass. Work has been a little crazy, so I still don't have my tree, but it'll definitely be a real one.

Edited to add this link for ribbon candy.

 

[LocktownDog]

This is an awesome idea. I'm going to steal it. Did your family celebrate any other winter holiday(s) besides the solstice?

Mom's side of the family was never much into the holidays. My father wasn't either, but his parents and grandparents were. Mainly old world traditions (we're dutch and german). They were dirt poor, but never skimped on the goodies around christmas ... stollen, oysters, smoked fish, etc. I think my great-grandparents celebrated Sinterklaas with oranges and licorice in the shoes too ... but I was just a little kid and don't remember all the details.

 

[RBH]

When was the last ime you had Carolers come to your house? In high school we went caroling. Does anyone still go?

We had a group come by our house last Saturday night.

 

[RBH]

Also my wifes 91 year old grandmother still does the Advent Wreath when we have Christmas at her home.

 

[tonyb]

The Upper Midwest of my early years was populated mostly with the descendants of northern Europeans -- Scandinavians and Germans and such. And during the Christmas season we practiced many of the traditions brought over from the old countries by the grandparents and great-grandparents and the great-great-grandparents.

There was a whole lot less of that out here on the West Coast. It's not that there's any real shortage of Norskis and Swedes in the Seattle area, but they aren't as dominant a cultural force. And the collective memories of the old ways grow dimmer with each passing year anyway, both here and there. (And it ain't cold enough for a proper Christmas out here. Gotta go up to the mountains to make a snowman.)

But I've become pretty well acquainted with some recent arrivals from the Phillipines. These folks are more Catholic than the Pope, and they make a big, big deal of Christmas. The preparations start in September (the first of the "ber" months) and pick up steam with each passing day. The woman next door has been here about a year and a half. Her disappointment with Christmas American style was quite evident last year. It is good for her that this area is home to a fairly sizable Filipino-American community, who know where she's coming from about this stuff. The food is killer, by the way, especially on special occasions, and occasions don't come much more special than Christmas. How they aren't all obese is a mystery to me.

 

[dhermann1]

I did Advent Calendars for a few years a while back. I love the sweet little German produced ones, with the flimsy paper and sparkles scattered on them. I sent one to my friend's mom once, and she reused it for years thereafter. I got into the habit, as I have for many Christmas things, of buying them for half price (or less) the day after Christmas and saving them for a year.
I look upon Christmas as an amalgam of many traditions, all deriving from ancient pagan practices. To me it's all about creating light in the darkest time of the year. Primitive man understood seasonal affective depression disorder long before there was a clinical name for it. I'm quite sure that the traditional stories of Jesus's birth were all made up after the fact (don't shoot me, people!) but I love them anyway. Any story that talks about emotional and spiritual rebirth is all right in my book.
Ribbion candy! Great stuff! By April or May or June, there were just shattered fragments in the tin they started out it. Isn't there a similar hard candy that has concentric layers of different colors, made by slicing a hot bar of stuff and letting it cool?

 

[dhermann1]

BTW, does anybody out there make glogg? GREAT stuff.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A Swedish friend of mine had a big party once and served glogg -- but she had kept her punchbowl in an unheated shed, and didn't let it come to room temperature before pouring in the hot glogg. The bowl exploded, and made a very festive mess on the kitchen floor.

She wanted to serve knaekebrot with the glogg, but couldn't find any -- so we made do with Ry-Krisp.

 

[tonyb]

Got more tree ornaments, both vintage and modern, than I have use for. (I just can't resist the drastic markdowns on that stuff come the first week of January. It's a good time to buy candles, too, provided you don't mind green and red.) About five years ago I bought the best darned Christmas tree stand I've ever seen. The thing'll outlast me, I'm sure, but this is the first year since I bought it that I'm considering NOT putting up a fresh-cut tree. I got a couple of kitschy tinsel "trees," about three feet tall each (reminders of my trailer-trash heritage), and just last night I bought a nice Norfolk Island pine, about the same size, which I'll decorate and then relegate to my greenhouse after the Epiphany (which, besides being the 12th day of Christmas, is my birthday). The Norfolk Island pine was all of $16.99 plus tax, which is less than half what I typically pay for a cut tree. I'm tempted to buy another.

No grief out of me for your observation about Christmas being mostly a Christianized version of the pagan solstice festival, dhermann1. No realistic reader of history could come to any other conclusion. And, like you, I don't think it matters, ultimately. It's a nice story.

 

[Historyteach24]

My dad always made Christmas special. We grew up lower middle class but he went all out on Christmas. EVery inch of the house lit up and we ALWAYS had a real tree. Now that I have a little family of my own I have brought that with me. My wife and I put up our indoor Christmas village that has added up to about 20 pieces or so over the 5 years of marriage. I just put up our real tree three days ago. It just is not Christmas for me without the fresh scent of pine in my living room. MY favorite tradition is rather new to me. My wife is episcopalian(sp?) and I grew up pentacostal. The episcopalians have such a beautiful Christmas eve church service with traditional songs, candles the who nine yards. Us pentacostals did not have anything like that. I really enjoy it

 

[Methuselah]

Nobody else around here seems to know what advent candles are, I have to keep explaining it when people call round.

When we were children, we had a nativity scene with all the characters made from old fashioned wooden clothes pegs. The wise men were my favourites - they had felt cloaks and crowns made from gold painted acorn cups. And the manger was a matchbox painted brown. Aaah, the memories!

I don't know if they were available in the US, but myself and a few other people I know remember that their first childhood taste of booze was bottles of pre-mixed snowballs. (Not that drinking at Christmas is going out of fashion of course)

 

[Methuselah]

Advent calendars are still really popular, but try finding any without "chocolate" in it. There's nowt festive about cheap vegetable fat. Bleurghh.