Behind Closed Doors
Last Saturday I received mail from Germany, courtesy of our own resident alien, Melanie Suydam (or, Mels, for those of us who know her thus). It wasn’t just any old Christmas card, either; it was an Advent Calendar Christmas card! Last year, I got one from Salzburg; this year, from Hamburg. It’s good to know people in foreign, Christmasy-type countries, who are willing to spend the postage to schick you a little Holiday Cheer :o)
Now, I used to have an advent calendar every year when I was a kid. I was horrible about waiting for each new day in December to come so that I could see what happy little image waited for me behind the corresponding flap. I always peeked. Always. I was especially bad at looking behind the BIG door for the 24th, which inevitably had the nativity scene behind it. So far I’ve been good with my advent calendar card. I finally got to open the first door this morning. Hooray!
In Germany, they usually go a step up with their advent calendars; instead of just boring old pictures, they often have chocolate, marzipan, other candy, or little toys hiding behind their advent calendar doors. While it seems to me that advent calendars have become less prolific in the States over the past several years, I did see a stack of German-styled, chocolate-filled calendars in a specialty shop last weekend. And, I just did a quick online search and came up with several virtual advent calendars. To be honest, most of my finds were disappointing. Maybe some of you more web-savy types could come up with something a little more aesthetically and spiritually fulfilling. Nevertheless, I included links to the following, should you desire the cheap thrill of seeing what’s hidden behind closed doors:
Here’s one for those of you who didn’t know that Santa is indeed alive, and well, and living in Finnish Lapland. Update on 12/2/04: That’s odd. This link now opens to a completely different calendar. Still Finnish, less Santa-ish…I like this one better than I did yesterday’s ;o)
But I liked this one from Scotland Online much better. I won’t tell you how long it took me to figure out door number one ;o)