Countdown to Christmas

When I was younger I used to love watching the 25 Days of Christmas on ABC Family. Even though I didn’t grow up in a Christian family, growing up in a predominantly white and Christian country means your time off aligns with traditions that aren't your own.

As a child, I didn't resent this. I didn't even fully recognize that those traditions were not for me, or that they were inherently religious in anyway. It all just seemed like fun that everyone was expected to take part in. Even our show and tell for elementary school was to bring in our favorite toy from Santa.

So I grew up loving December. The lights, the movies, and the all around holiday cheer!

I've since started to see myself as a guest whenever participating in any Christmas traditions, but that line gets more blurry now as my husband was born and raised in a Catholic family. Ultimately, this is a special time of year for people that I love, and I try to make it special for them, in the same way I would want them to acknowledge and care about the holidays that matter to me.

One of my Christmas obsessions is advent calendars! I love them because they help us make sure we're taking time out to be together and be present with each other. And isn't that what most holidays are supposed to be about anyways?

Our first Christmas as newlyweds, I surprised Greg with 24 Days of Tea from David's Tea! You can order the calendar with one or two servings, and I went with two so we could try each tea together. It became our daily ritual to have a cup of tea together, rate it, make note of the ones we want to get more of, and just talk about our day. The box was gorgeous and I actually re-used it the following year to fill with goodies for Greg. A personalized advent calendar from me! This year you can also get 24 Days of Matcha from David's Tea!

This year we may have gone overboard, but we're going to be stuck inside so why not!

We have a jam and honey advent calendar from Bon Maman, pictured above, that I cannot wait to get into! As we're both working from home, it'll be nice to make some toast or tea and try out a new jam each day. I can't wait to start the day together. My plan is to pick up a nice baguette and some cheese to mix it up. When we were doing long distance, we would lament about how much we just wanted to spend Sunday mornings together in our pjs, having a sleepy breakfast. Now we can do that all month and with jams we don't even have to put in much effort!

The second advent calendar we got is from The Purple Cow and is filled with 24 cool science experiments! Greg has always put effort into learning about what I do professionally and listens carefully when I talk about what things mean as it relates to my career. I have not exactly done the same. Science is probably the school subject I struggled with the most and trying to learn anything about Physics feels intimidating. I surprised him with this advent calendar because I figured we could take a little time each day for me to learn some super fun and basic science. This is also great for parents with young kids, especially if they are trying to keep them engaged at home in quarantine!

And of course, we couldn't forget our fur family!

While Greg and I are having our fun, we didn't want Juniper to miss out. I had already gotten her fall, Halloween, and Thanksgiving cookies from Wufers. They have the most festive treats for your dog, so when I saw that they had an advent calendar, I knew I had to grab one!

Unfortunately, this advent calendar has since sold out but you can still grab their adorable Christmas or Hanukkah cookie collections to give your best friend.

If neither of these holidays is for you, you can grab their "Snow Cute" collection for something fun and seasonal!

Last but not least, I splurged on an advent calendar from Crate Chef, a subscription box service that connects foodies with the latest cookbooks paired with goodies and gadgets from their favorite chefs! This was the priciest advent calendar listed here, and in the same range as most liquor advent calendars (also something I would like to get one year). But I'm super excited to see what kind of foodie goodies fill the box!

Another fabulous box that has since sold out, but you can check out my Instagram stories where I will be sharing what kinds of items are included.

For more advent calendar and holiday inspiration, subscribe to be notified later this week when I share something special I've been working on all month!