I love the decorations, the fairy lights and the carols. The markets, the mulled wine and dressing up for the work Christmas party. The Christmas food, the of buying presents and all in all that general festive feeling.
But simple as it sounds, one of my favourite traditions in the lead up to Christmas, is opening the Advent calendar.
My parents are religious, so growing up I was never allowed a chocolate advent calendar (it took away from the meaning of Christmas) I had ones with pictures. As a 6 year old, you can imagine how unimpressed I was when all the other children opened their door to find little Santa chocolates and I got a picture of a robin.
Ironically now I much prefer the picture calendars. You can get such beautiful ones with lovely pictures and (you've guessed it) lots and lots of glitter!
This year, when my Daddy dropped by with an Advent calendar 'for Luke' I wondered, at 8 months old, how interested he would really be.
On the December 1st while we were having breakfast, I put the calendar in front of Luke and was surprised at how taken in he was. His eyes were like saucers and he had a look of total wonder on his little face. It was the most adorable thing I have ever seen, made all the more special by the fact that the calendar was from Grandad.
Now we open the calendar every morning at breakfast and Luke is totally entranced. It has made one of my favourite Christmas traditions all the more special and I'm actually going to be quite sad when we get to the last door.
What is your favourite part about the lead up to Christmas? I'd love to hear your count down traditions.
Happy Blogmas! X