December First

It was the center of Christmas tradition in my childhood home.

All four of us kids would rotate placing ornaments on the tree and eating the miniature candy cane, but Karen always got to do "16 days until Christmas" since December 9th is her birthday. I don't remember a December without this felt calendar hanging on the stairwell wall, taunting me daily for 24 days until Christmas actually arrived.

November 1987--I was attending my first semester at BYU and working part-time for a clothing store named "Vanity."  I was a transfer employee and at the bottom of the totem pole, so I was scheduled to work until 6 pm Christmas Eve, then I could have a vacation until after New Year's.  I needed the job and I was eighteen, so I agreed to stay.  I remember calling my parents and telling them that they couldn't come get me until late Christmas Eve and how sad I was.

Sometime before December first I received a package in the mail:

. . . my very own felt Advent calendar, handmade with love by my mom.  Without my siblings around to fight, I got to place every ornament and eat every candy cane--it was a Christmas dream.  I had to stay in the dorms way past when everyone else was nestled snug in their own beds, and my Advent calendar was my only Christmas cheer--this time it not only counted down days until Christmas but it also marked the time until I got to go home.  The morning of December 24th was joyous for me because I knew at the end of my shift, I would see my dad and we would make the four-hour drive home for the holidays.  Finally.

Fast forward 25 Christmases--November 2011. A few days ago I unboxed my treasure, made sure all the pins were in place, then filled each pocket with a miniature cane.  Many of the sequins are missing now, and the #15 pocket has a stain.  The doll now occupies 22 days until Christmas (and has every year since 1990):  the day our teeny Heidi was born miniature and wrinkly and perfect.

All the Christmases this calendar has seen.  All the changes in my family--good and bad--and all the places we've lived.

Now my own kids argue over who gets to hang the ornaments, who gets to go first and who gets the coveted position of Christmas Eve.  I continued the tradition with Heidi and Tucker their first Christmases away from home--not as crafty as my mom, I ordered them their own felt calendars, lovingly filled the pockets with peppermint, and sent them away.

A week ago I dug out Tucker's calendar from last Christmas and mailed it to New York.

Christmas.  It's all about tradition.

 I love December.

Twenty-four more days.  And you can bet I'm counting.

Linking up to Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday.