Ellen Byron

Happy First Day of Advent Calendars to All Who Observe

My love of Advent calendars is well-documented on social media, as evidenced by this photo of last year’s partial haul and yes, you read that right…

My love/passion/obsession for this holiday tradition started when I was a kid. Every year, my mother bought a sparkly paper calendar that came from Germany. It looked like this one…

As I got older, I generally sought out one of these calendars around Christmastime, but my interest waxed and waned. Then we had our own child, and I discovered that Playmobil made calendars where each box contained the elements to build a lovely holiday scene. I was hooked. Our daughter quickly lost interest in opening the little boxes, but not me. Each morning, I gleefully added another plastic chair or dog or tree to the scene. I still have those Playmobil sets and sometimes set one up for myself…

Contrary to rumors, I don’t buy every calendar on the planet. I’ve narrowed it down to chocolate, cheese, wine, and cookies. (Although this year my Ilchester cheddar cheese calendar from the UK wasn’t exported to the US thanks to tariffs, and I am NOT happy.)

I generally kick things off with the super-economical Trader Joe’s mini chocolates calendar. Look, it’s even “cozy” this year!

From there, my tastes turn pricier. I indulged in the 2025 See’s calendar, but since I kept the box from last year, I refilled it for my fam.

I love tea but with the tea advent calendars, there are only a few I know I’d genuinely like, so it’s not worth the money. Same with jams and beauty products. But I know my Big Four will also appeal to husband and daughter. (Yes, contrary to other rumors, I do share my haul. And I don’t ingest everything in 24 days. I still have a few mini wine bottles left over from last year.)

Spurred by fond memories from childhood, I also buy plain old paper advent calendars. But they’re so pretty that I often can’t bring myself to open them. The Christmas tree below is untouched. I did open the calendar inspired by my all-time favorite museum, the Cloisters, but it’s so pretty it was worth saving. And there’s no way I’ll remember what was behind those little doors, so it will be like opening a brand-new calendar when I reuse it.

Last year, I even turned my calendar love into a crafting project, creating an Ellen Byron advent calendar filled with swag as a giveaway for one lucky winner. It was a you-know-what-ton of work, so I’m passing on doing it this year. But I’m not ruling out a future foray into DIY calendaring.

Here’s this year’s haul, minus another 12-day wine calendar and the Murray’s Cheese Shop calendar that I tore apart so I could refrigerator the cheese and use it for an appetizer board on Christmas day. (How’s that for repurposing?!)

You may be thinking, “Ellen, this is nuts! Which is the only advent calendar you’re missing!” (There is a nuts and meat stick calendar, but I passed on it.) But here’s the thing. No matter what happens the rest of the year, I can count on 24 days to deliver a few moments of delightful surprises and pure joy.

And for me, that’s worth every calendar I splurge on.

Readers, what would be your dream Advent calendar? Do you have any this year?

28 thoughts on “Happy First Day of Advent Calendars to All Who Observe”

  1. I always loved the Advent calendar with the paper windows you opened to see the different Christmas scenes and Santa on Christmas day. Now they have so many choices to pick from I would try the cheese and the nuts and beef one and of course the chocolate one. Thank you Deborah

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  2. Ellen, I love these so much!!! Oh, my word! I love Advent calendars. I was going to DIY Advent calendars for my siblings but there were no takers. Sadness. I love the ones with the pretty pictures and chocolates. Thank you so very much for this wonderfully fun post!

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  3. OMG, the choices are so overwhelming. I have not picked one up yet this year. How did it get to be December already??? Guess I need to find one today! Thanks for the reminder.

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  4. OMG, the choices are so overwhelming. I have not picked one up yet this year. How did it get to be December already??? Guess I need to find one today! Thanks for the reminder.

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  5. I loved the Advent Calendars I had when I was young, opening the windows in the village scene each day until the church doors opened on Christmas Eve revealing the Nativity scene. I bought some digital ones in the past that were very fun. But this year I went off the beaten path and bought a book. ” The Murder Mystery Advent Calendar, Murder on the Yuletide Express” by Edna J. Winthrope.

    Each day you read a chapter and solve some puzzles. It caught my eye and I am enjoying the first chapter today.

    Carol

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  7. When I was young (and though we never got them), I loved the idea of Advent calendars, particularly ones with chocolates.

    In recent years, I’ve gotten a few; my most recent ones have been filled with socks or beauty products. I’ve yet to find a calendar where I’ve loved every single surprise item, though…

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  8. I had paper advent calendars as a kid, and now I’m wondering why I’ve never bought any for myself as an adult. The wine and cheese versions sound awful enticing… And I love how you’ve repurposed some of them–especially the See’s Candies one!

    Happy beginning of the holiday season to all the Chicks and our beloved readers!

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  9. You talking about this has made me look at some, usually in Trader Joe’s, but they haven’t appealed to me. I have other sweets I buy, so just getting plain milk chocolate? I turned my nose up at that one. Picky, aren’t I?

    We had a reusable one growing up where each day told a bit more of the Christmas story. My parents still put it up, and I impressed everyone when I was up for Thanksgiving by knowing where day 2 was. (They are all random.) I couldn’t tell you any of the others, but days 1 and 2 and 24 are easy to find/remember.

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    1. I buy the TJs ones but honestly, they’re not my favorite. LOL to knowing where day 2 was on the fam calendar! I have trouble finding the days sometimes and get aggravated. Talk about a high-class problem!

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  10. This is such a fun post, El! I loved seeing all of your Advent treasures (and the Ellen Byron one–wow. Just wow.) I have to admit, I’m a traditionalist, so my faves are the sparkly light cardboard ones with the windows that have the Xmas and Nativity pix behind them. (Bonus for either a snowy English village or Victorian NYC scene on the outside.) We reused ours every year–part of the thrill for me of opening the little doors (and carefully closing them back into place after Christmas) was getting to see them again.

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    1. Oh, I LOVE those kinds of calendars! I have one from the Cloisters that I’ve now set up as part of my winter diorama. It’s amazing because it comes with a guide explaining the history of each historical item pictured.

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  12. We also had those sparkly German calendars, and my mom would save them and reuse the next year. We taped them to a window so you could get light through the tissue paper pictures behind the doors. I might have to order one real quick!

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  13. I’m late to the party, but I love your swag advent calendar! I’m sure it was a lot of work… but I feel like there should be a Chicks calendar in our future! Maybe a digital one. Okay, I’m going to go think about that all day while I should be writing. 😂

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