Countdown to Christmas - Journal Your Christmas 2012

I remember waiting not so patiently for our Christmas decorations to be brought out of the attic.  The big black metal trunk and various other cardboard boxes.  The unearthing of our decorations usually lined up with the unveiling of Christmas decor around town...that meant the day after Thanksgiving.  We lived in a relatively small town and only really had a mall, a Target and a Wal-Mart  for our shopping needs.  So once Black Friday passed we could count on the foil trees hanging on street lights...Santa arriving in the Mall and Christmas themed decorations on display for purchase.  
My favorite way to countdown my time until Christmas meant I had to wait until December actually started.  We had an Advent Calendar we used every year and I remember it with great detail and fondness.  It was simple...made of felt...and it looked like a calendar.  The top half was a Christmas Tree and the bottom half was a calendar numbered 1-25.  The pieces we used to mark off the days were made of plastic and in various holiday shapes (toy soldier, holly leaves, ornaments, etc).  As each day passed my brother and I would take turns moving an "ornament" off the tree and onto the calendar.  Each cheerful piece of plastic got us one day closer to the big day.  I would be lying if I said we didn't have our favorites.  The candy cane and toy soldier would go first...the sleigh and ornament shapes would be some of the final pieces to make it down to the calendar.  The same pieces were always the final three.  Rudolph, Mrs. Claus and the big man...waited for their days much more patiently than we did.  On Christmas Eve we would move the "red nosed reindeer" and then head off to bed.  We would strain to hear the hooves on the roof...look out our windows to see the glow of the reindeer's nose...listen for the tell tale laugh of the jolly old man.  The time leading up to Christmas was so magical.  It was a time to believe in miracles and granting of wishes.  As our readiness to believe started to fade, our advent calendar started to show its age.  The velcro on the back of the ornaments might not stick quite as well as it had in our youth, but we still loved moving the ornaments from tree to calendar well into our teens.  I don't know what happened to that calendar...but I hope it is still in my parents' attic.  It is a treasured memory...and my favorite way to countdown our days before the big day!

to the moon and back my lovelies!
Sarah

This is NOT our calendar but it is close.
You know of the close but not cigar variety!