I'm not into Christmas this year. Two of my best friends moved away this fall, making the celebration I'm usually pretty jazzed about spending with my chosen family a lot less exciting. I just don't feel like setting up a tree or throwing Ludachristmas. In fact, Kiah and I plan on going to the Grand Canyon instead of doing any of it, so that's exciting, but not especially festive. Still, there are little traditional things here and there that we've been pining for. We're still buying everyone presents, I'm still excited for egg nog, and Kiah still wants an advent calendar.
Thing about advent calendars, though, is that they're expensive and the chocolate is gross. He tried to pick one up in Target a few weeks ago, but I remembered a few Christmasses back when he bought one. Almost none of the little doors got opened that December, and in January when I finally wanted to eat the chocolate I was disappointed to find it was waxy, cheap candy. What a waste. I told him we weren't going to buy an advent calendar because I could just make one. This conversation quickly escalated into a bet, and low and behold, I've made an advent calendar and won the bet.
This thing is remarkably not-festive, but I like it. It reminds me of the decor in Pee Wee's Playhouse. I threw it together last week using paper scraps, embroidery floss, ribbon, decorative tape and most of a glue stick. It's so unChristmas that it could be a countdown to anything, but the chocolate is good and it's a damn countdown anyway, so really that's all that matters.