December 25th

I just love our little wooden folk advent calendar. I've had this for years. It's hand made and I picked it up at a fair in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, I don't have any identifying marks of the artist that made it. Each ornament is wood and hand carved individually. I decided to post a picture of it. The angel always goes on the last day the 25th of December and she tops the tree. I've gained a few miniature ornaments over the years so there are a few left under the tree. Technically all of the ornaments should be used up but we added a few (EDITED TO ADD: do you spy crabby maxine to the far right side of the tree, she's my favorite, her tote says I don't do jolly haha cracks me up). My daughters and I still practice this tradition every year even though they are all grown now 27 and 25.

The Advent Calendar has been around for more than 150 years and becomes more popular every year.

The origin of the calendar, like so many of our Christmas traditions, started in Germany back in the 19th century. Different methods of counting down the days to the celebration of Christmas were used.

Drawing a chalk line to mark off the days, later lighting a candle every night or putting up small religious pictures marked each day until Christmas. The first printed calendar was produced by Gerhard Lang in Germany. When he was a child, his mother attached little candies to a piece of cardboard and each day Gerhard would take one off. His first (printed) calendar consisted of miniature colored pictures that would be attached to a piece of cardboard each day in December. Later Advent calendars were made with little doors to open on each day.

The child might find a small piece of candy, a Christmas picture, a religious picture or a bible verse.

The German calendars were sold until World War II, at which time production was stopped due to the war shortages. After the war, the production of calendars resumed in 1946 by Richard Selmer. Selmer credits President Eisenhower with helping the tradition grow in the United States during his term of office. A newspaper article at the time showed the Eisenhower grandchildren with The Little Town Advent calendar. His company still produces calendars today and can be ordered online. Check out the online museum to see some of their early designs.

The first Advent calendars were based on 24 days with Christmas Eve as the last night to either put up a picture or take a candy. Today, the traditional German calendars still show 24 days, but in the United States, it's not uncommon to also find ones with 25 days -- the last opening to occur on Christmas Day.

It's not to late to start a tradition like this for your family, one that will become a real treasure in the years to come.