Inspired by... advent

Inspired by... advent

 

Part of the fun of Christmas is the anticipation!

For as long as I can remember, I've had a least one advent calendar to help me count down the days until December 25th. Mom usually gives me a paper one each year, with little doors to open that reveal a new picture each day, and I don't think I've ever had one with the same scene twice! I've enjoyed collecting them over the years.

For the last two years I've enjoyed Jacquie Lawson's Advent Calendars on my computer desktop! If you haven't seen these, they are a lot of fun and you can view and/or demo them here.

But my favorite Advent calendar of all is one my Nana made for me, a hundred, many, many years ago.

A beautiful chorus of angels announce the coming King!

 

Except for the letters and stars, it is made entirely of felt. The white circles have, now barely readable, numbers on them to indicate the days. Four envelopes are marked with dates to instruct you where and what to pin...

 

 

Some of the angels face left and some face right, so envelope #1 has right-facing angels and envelope #2 has left-facing angels.

 

 

Envelope #3 has something special inside... (shhh, I can't show you until December 24th)

 

 

...and envelope #4 has typed (on a non-electric typewriter) instructions on how to reveal the scene behind the city silhouette.

 

 

Mom used to re-sew the city with a slip-stitch every year, but I quickly tired of that, so now I just use pins!

 

 

The little angels have straight pins taped to their backs and you just slip the pin into the felt behind the white circles. I think of my Nana and all the loving work she put into making this for me each time I pin an angel.

Do you have a favorite Advent tradition?

 

Blessings,

 

 

 

 

 

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