I don't know when it became tradition to open small gifts every morning leading up to the BIG present day...but somehow our family succumbed to this annual ritual. I suppose for our family it started the year I found that Playmobil Advent Calendar on sale at a Zany Brainy. As a grown adult, I can't help but to think back and wonder how many of those traditions I remember so fondly came about by some odd event of consumerism.So it is, the tradition of opening a tiny box every morning to reveal the wonders of a Christmas landscape of plasitc toys only to culminate with a Santa equiped with a brown burlap sack and a stick - oh yes, did I mention Playmobil comes from Germany. Oh what an America we would be had we instituted that Santa-wielding-a-stick tradition to all those bad little boys and girls. I mean really, coal? A swift whack of a stick while bound in a itchy bag would be so much more memorable, yes?
It was well into the first week of December and the rattlings of my youngest was getting louder and louder. "When are we going to start the calendar? When do we get to open the presents? Huh, mom...Huh....When!?"
My husband, being genuinely helpful, found a playmobil advent calendar online. And for only $50 we could have one delivered this week!! Somehow I saw all my best efforts for catching sales, combing advertising inserts, plus all my best attempts of being fugal this Christmas were just about to go out the window. Apparently my sentiment wasn't reciprocated amongst the family and I knew I had yet another item added to my holiday todo list.
We have all been there. Festering in the orthodontist waiting room - waiting only hear how it will be yet another few months before THIS ritual will come to an end (somehow this story seems to lose its appeal the 4th time you hear it). You sift through the odd sports magazine, some book about "How I lost my retainer" stories then settle for a holiday issue of Better Homes and Gardens. Ah, just what an over-tasked mother needs the first week of December - MORE IDEAS!
Combing through the pages too exhausted to actually read the articles - I am totally into this for the pictures. Then I see it. The perfect picture! I don't even have to read the text...I could just tell from the photo. Tiny little boxes with numbers on them. They could only mean one thing - An Advent Calendar!
"I could do that" I think to myself. I have some small jewelry boxes I would wrap in fancy paper. I surely have small trinkets in my 'secret closet' that could fit in these boxes. Certainly, this MUST be the answer to my advent calendar woes!
Upon driving home my mind wastes no time in escalating this simple task in the Martha Stewart of all tasks. "I could have theme....like the purpose of Advent itself...preparing for Christmas. Each little gift could have some basis for what we do to prepare for the season. Cooking, Entertaining, Giving, Decorating. Oh, this is going to be great!" Again, famous LAST words of a mother who wonders why she drinks so much.
I was convinced that just a short trip to Michael's and an evening of wrapping, I could have everything ready for my daughters to regale in the wonders of this tradition by morning. LIttle did I know what was in store for me. Did anyone ever tell me that 24 was really a BIG number? Especially when you need 24 boxes...and wrap 24 presents...some of which were tops and bottoms...so it is like wrapping 48 presents!
The first night I got the shopping done. And despite my best attempts at keeping the idea a secret from my little one... it was leaked. She was so excited. This translated into the constant questioning about when the presents will be ready. "Huh, mom...Huh....When!?"
Fast forward to Saturday. Ok. Now it is the 8th day of December and the girls are getting antsy. I thought I had best take my morning coffee downstairs and start on wrapping. Not even an hour into my 3 hours of wrapping that day when Hannah hollers down the stairs - "WHAT DAY ARE YOU ON?" All I remember was thinking that this is going to be a LONG day.
After 3 hours of wrapping - did I mention how LARGE the number 24 is! - I was ready to come upstairs to set out the gifts. Being the NUT that I am, I didn't want them opening them until I could get a picture...and they still just had the pink post-it notes on them indicating the date. That would be another 2 hours to add ribbon & adorn them with the 'perfect' Martha Stewart tags.
So, a full week and 8-10 hours later, I have finished my perfect vision I had when sitting in that orthodontist office. One has to think - WHO do these magazine people think they are?! Sucking us in with their pretty pictures and fancy ideas. Who has the freakin' time for this stuff?
In the end, I must admit, I am really proud of myself on this one. The pictures are adorable and the girls LOVE the idea. Perhaps I have created a monster tradition that my girls will try to obtain year after year with their kids. For me, I paid my dues. I will be using the same wrapped boxes next year!
Welcome to the baked world of Freshly Baked Gingersnaps!
-Ginger
