We're freshly returned from Stephen's birthday holiday on the North Yorkshire coast, and getting ready for Christmas, which of course means Advent Adventures! Buckle up sweethearts, because I've gone completely over the top crazy this year!
Yep, they won't even all fit in the photo properly, but there are 12 count-down calendars here.
This post is only about the calendars by the way, there won't be any update on my knitting progress. That will come with the first of my Advent Updates tomorrow.
Let's tell you more about the calendars then:
No clues from the packaging here. This was a bit of an impulse purchase, because I didn't even know that this sort of thing existed. It's meant to be a charm bracelet calendar for children, but each of the "charms" is basically a stitch marker!
My personal advent tradition started a few years ago as a means of making time and luxury for myself during a time of year that is historically very stressful, and painful, for our family. Christmas is stressful for everyone of course, because there is so much pressure to spend more than you can afford, to visit people you perhaps don't really want to visit, to be merry and joyful, when actually you're mostly trying to keep warm in biting winds and pouring rain, finish your end of year projects at work, and somehow find time to buy the perfect present for everyone you know without leaving yourself bankrupt come January. For our family though, we have frequently also had to deal with fresh grief, as our mam died in November 2012, Gemma and Vikki's mam, who wasn't a blood relative, but was a very close family friend, died at the end of October 2014, Trish, our step-mam died in November 2016, just 3 days after dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and the same year dad had surgery which we hoped would cure his cancer in December, only to discover that it was already too late, and his cancer would be terminal.
At least dad didn't stick to the pattern, so we had one last Christmas with him still on good form last year, but it will still be hard to have Christmas without him this year.
Out of this, and the appearance of exciting new advent calendars containing more than just chocolate, grew Advent Indulgence.
This year I want to give a little back. So I searched for "charity advent calendars" and discovered Advent of Change. For every calendar you buy, 24 different charities benefit. Each door you open will tell you who your money has gone to help. The company makes no profit, every penny above the cost of printing and shipping goes direct to the charities.
I always do get a chocolate calendar, and Lindt is one of my favourite types of chocolate.
I had already bought the Lindt calendar, when I saw that Hotel Chocolat are doing several different calendars this year, of vary degrees of opulence, but this is their calendar for children. It has penguins on it, and I'm lead to believe, inside it too. I had to go to Hotel Chocolat to buy a number of presents for friends and family, and as this is the childrens calendar, it was relatively inexpensive, so being as it's full of penguins, I decided to bring it home with me.
Tea is very important to me, so of course there had to be a tea calendar. This year I've gone for Bird and Blend, a small, British company, based in Nottingham. I already have several of their teas, Nearly Nirvana is a particular favourite of mine.
Last year I had 2 different beauty advents, one with bath products, and one with makeup and accessories. I've found over the course of this year that I haven't used very much of the makeup, although I have used the accessories, and I still have a number of bath fizzers left. So I looked for a beauty calendar that includes more products that I will actually use, such as hand cream, and found this one by Cath Kidston.
Scented candles form an important part of my little indulgence ritual, and the Yankee Candle calendar is the one I've had for the last couple of years.
I'd already bought the candle calendar when I received an email about this calendar of soy wax melts, one of which has an item of jewellery hidden inside of it! As I know that the tealight candles only last a few hours, but I intend on being at home most of the time this December, so having 2 scented products will allow me to keep our home smelling sweetly seasonal all day. Plus, I will get a little extra surprise on one day!
The first of my yarn based advent calendars is by Made by Penguins. I say the first, because I do have several, for a number of reasons, that I'll get to later.
Independent yarn brands usually start to advertise their advent calendar sign ups in the middle of summer, as they need to know how many mini-skeins they will need to dye long enough in advance to get them all dyed, dried, wound, packaged, and shipped in time to be opened on the 1st of December, while also keeping up with their regular workload, and any autumn fibre festivals that they're committed to doing.
This summer, I had spare cash, an urge to comfort shop, and spectacular degrees of brain fog. It was always going to be an interesting combination.
I can't remember when I actually ordered this, but I'm pretty sure that it was the first advent calendar I ordered. It contains 24 x 20g 4-ply mini-skeins, plus a full sized 100g skein to open on Christmas day, and a Made by Penguins project bag.
I have literally no idea when I ordered this, because I have no memory of ordering this. I ordered one of these as a gift for Yasmin. I can only assume that I forgot I'd already placed the order at some point, and ordered a second one. I was quite confused when 2 identical parcels arrived! You see what I mean about the brain fog!
This is by Vicki Brown Designs, and it contains 24 mini-skeins. I'm afraid I can't even remember if they're 10g or 20g, 4-ply or DK! I guess I'll find out tomorrow!
It seems that I have a special kind of luck with online yarn giveaways. This is the second year in a row that I've won something for Christmas from a giveaway that I entered on Instagram! I was shocked, and overjoyed when I received the email telling me that I'd won another yarn advent calendar!
This is by Gamer Crafting, who I adore for the pin badges as much as for the yarn! If you're a bit of a geek, identify as LGBTQ+, love gorgeous yarn, or any combination of the 3 (Or even all 3, like me!) then you absolutely MUST visit their site!
I confess to stuffing these mystery bags into a different box than the one they arrived in, as due to an ordering error at their end, the boxes that their calendars went out in were massive! So I found a box that once contained a teapot, but I kept because I thought it might be useful, and put all of the advent bags in the new box.
Finally, this is NOT an advent calendar! I repeat, this is NOT an advent calendar!
This is the Homespun Wonders 12 Days of Christmas Box, which contains 12 mini-skeins to open on each of the 12 days of Christmas, plus a bag full of goodies to open on Christmas day.
Now, not everyone knows that the 12 days of Christmas actually begin on Christmas day, and continue until 12th Night, followed by Epiphany on the 6th January. I don't know if the intention is that these mystery bags be opened in the days preceding Christmas Day, like an advent calendar, only starting on the 13th December, or if they are actually intended to be opened on the official 12 days of Christmas. So I asked this question on social media, and by far the most popular answer was that I open these on the official 12 days of Christmas, thus following tradition, and also prolonging my days of opening little surprises until after the New year. So that is what I'm going to do. You won't see anything from inside these packages until Christmas day!
That's it my dears! I'm all set for the start of my Advent Adventure of Indulgence. I hope that you enjoy following along with me, and also enjoy whatever plans you have for the festive season.
See you tomorrow!
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