December 22 - Christmas Grab Bag
Christmas memories - now what should I write about?
Since we have been writing about our Christmas memories through this Advent Calendar of Christmas memories meme since December 1, why not look at Advent Calendars.
I don't recall having Advent Calendars in my childhood. I am not sure when my mother joined the World Book Round the World Christmas Series club. She participated for at least 10 years. Each year World Book Encyclopedia published a book on a theme of Christmas in a different country. With the book, you received a Christmas ornament and an Advent calendar (not the kind with the chocolate in). These had different pictures that varied depending on the country of the year. Each day from December 1 to December 24 a door was opened. It was a fun ritual to see what image would be revealed each day. It was also interesting to learn about the Christmas customs in other parts of the world.
Advent calendars come in a great variety of styles, sizes and materials. The history of the Advent Calendar The first Advent calendar dates back to mid-19th century in Germany. The early images related to the Nativity. Since 1946, Richard Sellmer Company in Germany has been selling Advent Calendars around the world.
Today, you will also see cloth calendars with pockets. With the popularity of the Internet, there are digital Advent Calendars to help mark the count down to Christmas.
In Gegenbach, Germany, the town hall (rathaus) becomes a large Advent Calendar each December. Each of the 24 windows will display an image. - What a creative way to count down the days to Christmas.
With only two more postings in this meme, I would like to say how much I have enjoyed reading everyone's postings on the various themes. I have learned much about the different ways each person and family celebrates Christmas with their sharing of their memories of Christmases past. It has been great to explore my own memories of Christmases past and to record them so that they are not lost or forgotten.
Posts
Thank you for this post - all this month I was hoping that someone in the ACCM would do this. When I helped Jasia start the project I did some of this same research and found it very interesting.
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