Let’s Start The Countdown

Yep. I’m one of those people, who start the Christmas Countdown by 100 days. And as soon as Halloween passes, I think it’s legitimate to express my Christmas excitement. haha. I don’t celebrate Christmas as a religious day but as a time where our grayish everyday life gets colorful. Those lights, candies, pastries, teas, gifts and other festive decorations warm my heart. And I don’t know if it’s only me who thinks so, but somehow this time of the year has the power to make everyone a little bit nicer. haha.
Of course, it shouldn’t be about gifts and treats, but doesn’t everybody love them? I personally don’t ever expect a return gift, when I’m giving something to someone. For me, it doesn’t work that way. In fact, if I’m making a gift to someone, I indirectly make a present for myself. Because I’m always the one who gets more excited when they open the present. And what could be more satisfying than that smile on the other side?
This year I decided to make three different advent calendars. Two for my friends and one for my brother. I will present you only two of them because my brother and I decided to keep it simple. We put the gifts on each others table every morning. Before heading to the calendars I want to mention something that keeps my mind engaged…
It is very important that many of us realize how many meters of wrapping paper we use during Christmas time. And we should be aware of the fact that these are not good for the environment and cause a lot of waste. Even though I like all the colors, lights and glitters, this year I genuinely try to work with eco-friendly wrapping paper. Also, I use to keep all the non-damaged wrapping paper I get and try to reuse them. I started doing this about 4 years ago, after reading a history school book. In a post-war diary entry, a young woman told, that she only reused the wrapping paper from last year. They couldn’t afford fancy wrapping paper after losing her dad in the war. If you are careful you normally can reuse those papers, ribbons, flowers, stickers and other decorations. I’m not a super eco-friendly person. It’s only a suggestion and surely I also do many other things that have a bad impact on nature. But it’s all about baby steps, right? So let’s have a look at the calendars.

Advent Calendar One

This calendar is made up of 48 pieces. 12 letters with a clue to find the matching gift. This friend likes it very simple and minimalistic. So I made this calendar out of newspaper with very little decorations.

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Advent Calendar Two

This is a „normal“ calendar with 24 pieces. It’s made out of kraft paper so she can dispose of it with normal paper.

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I hear many excuses like „I don’t have the time…“ or „I don’t have the money…“. I’m sure some of us really can’t make time for it or don’t have the money. And there are people, they just don’t want to. And that’s totally fine. If you don’t want to, you shouldn’t. Yet instead of spending hours over hours on social media, you could invest that time in real people. And gifts don’t have to be expensive. It is all about the gesture. I do not wish to offend anybody. These are some thoughts I wanted to share with you. I hope you all have a great festive season and enjoy the last month of the year with glitter, lights, and love. Thanks for reading.

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