Countdown

Advent calendars come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. -- but they all serve a singular purpose of counting down the days until Christmas. Here's a display of some of the advent calendars Sylvia Martin has kept over the years. --Submitted photo

Advent Calendars are said to have started in Germany in the mid-19th century. Many different methods of counting down the days until Christmas were used. Some people made chalk marks; others had cookies in boxes to be opened and eaten, one each night; and later, the traditional picture with doors to be opened became common. Upon opening the calendar, a child might find a piece of candy, small gift, picture, or a Bible verse.

After World War II, it is said that a picture of President Eisenhower opening Advent calendar doors with his grandchildren brought the awareness of the tradition to the United States. Today, Advent calendars come in many forms. Some are simple and others are works of art. While the season of Advent finds Christians preparing to welcome Christ, many Advent calendars are secular in nature.

I became aware of counting down the days at Christmas time with the "Tearing of the Square" in the parlor of Robertson Hall. Cottey students met nightly in the parlor to sing a carol, light candles, and bum one more square of tissue held by the dorm president.

When I started my family, the Advent calendar became an important fixture for the preparation for Christmas. When Christmas was over, I just could not bring myself to throw away the used calendars. It became a tradition in our home to hang each one and open the new one. During the lean years when I could not afford a new Advent calendar, my children would tear off the doors of a calendar from the previous years. Later, each child had their own Advent calendar. Some of my collection comes from friends who knew of my interest and contributed their children's calendars. Some come as gifts from students who knew of the collection from Reading Recitals in our home at Christmas time. Others are purchases when I find unique styles to add to our more than 130 calendars. (Yes, we do have two that are alike!)

The collection has been used to teach lessons in children's Sunday school classes on the concepts of sacred and secular. One has won a blue ribbon at the Harney County Fair. For our own children, developing a system of organization for the display led to discussions for categories to sort and show calendars with commonalities. This year, the Danish calendars and West German calendars have their own groupings. Down the stairway are the fabric calendars with pockets. On another wall are cartoon characters Rainbow Bright, Ziggie, Charlie Brown.

When our youngest child was born on Dec. 26, our family would take down the Advent calendar collection after dinner on Christmas night. The 26th would be strictly her birthday; not left-over Christmas. Carefully, all would be put away until the Saturday before the first Sunday of Advent the next year when we would get it all out again.

Traditions become started from the smallest of gestures. Each family builds its own ways of celebrating and preparing for holidays. Our family tradition includes reading selections from the Bible nightly as we prepare for Christmas Day, when the Greatest Gift was given to all people.

"For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

-- Isaiah 9:6.