Four weeks of chocolate? I'm in.

It continues to be cold and wintery here. Yesterday there was a hailstorm, which fortunately started five minutes after I got back home from my morning class. One thing I’ve been enjoying lately is a daily treat from my Advent calendar. I was first introduced to this common decorative chocolate vessel when I was in Ireland and I realized it was a better version of an old Christmas decoration that hung in my house each year. Ours was simply a cloth calendar including 24 days (pockets) and a little mouse in a stocking, which you move forward each day. A treasured holiday memory from my childhood is trying each morning to get to the calendar before my sister to move the little mouse its one pocket closer to 24 (truth be told even on the mornings I was too slow I’d still move the mouse back and then forward again). Once I saw this same concept but now with a treat inside for each day I thought, “Score!”

What is an Advent calendar exactly? The Advent tradition is a religious celebration in preparation for the arrival (or “advent”) of the Christ Child (das Christkind) on his “official” birthday, the 25th day of December. The Advent season and its celebration have changed over the years from a more serious, somber character to a more celebratory one, including such treats as these chocolate-filled Advent calendars.

Another version is the Adventskranz, which is a wreath with four candles (one for each week of Advent), where each week (presumably on Sunday) a new candle is lit leading up to the last candle and Christmas. There is also an Advent calendar with small scenes inside each day, leading up to a view of the nativity on the 24^th. 

I knew the holiday season was approaching when I first saw them in supermarkets as early as late October. I was thrilled to receive one when I got back from my vacation just in time to start popping open little boxes of goodies. Off to savor mine now!