#advent calendars

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[phoenixyfriend]

I'm watching some 'advent calendar unboxing' videos from a woman whose approach generally involves googling each individual product to fact-check against the claimed values and also product quality. For instance, she had some Words for how the advent calendar versions of the products from Vogue were often less luxury (e.g. the socks that were 95-5 cashmere to elastane on the site were 85-15 in the calendar, and the earrings were gold-plated brass instead of silver) while repeatedly misdirecting consumers into thinking they'd gotten a 'real' version of the product with the website design (there were QR codes with each product that took people to the actual listing without stating that it wasn't the thing they got).

And as I have these playing in the background, I just keep thinking '@professorsparklepants would probably like this,' but also I'm just loving that the more frustrated she gets, the stronger her accent gets (she's in Kentucky, which I didn't realize sounded like a mix of Midwestern and Southern).

And I wouldn't have brought it here to tumblr instead of DMs, except I need to share the absolute travesty that is the $600 Christian Loubiton advent calendar. Most of these calendars are like 90% samples that they usually give out for free at stores or with a purchase, but this... was so much worse? Comments are theorizing that it was a package that had been purchased, fully opened, and then returned, because... well, you can watch.

[purple-vbug]

Sirius opens his advent calendar all at once regulus day by day

James waits of the 24th and opens them all at once, Remus opens them all at once very carefully number by number.

Pete opens three a day and is sad he doesn’t reach Christmas

Marlene just goes for it and opens it from left to right immediately, Mary wants to do day by day but brakes a few days in.

Lily opens them day by day but forgets half the days.

Dorcas forgets it completely until she stumbles on it some day after Christmas when she finally opens them all.

Pandora opens one every morning but in a completely different order, Evan looks at it for a while before deciding to open it but regrets it halfway through and waits until the days align again

Barty rips them all open aggressively and looks at which he likes before throwing it away

[ahopefulbromantic]

Rant incoming!

I hate hate hate with a passion how Advent Calendars are advertised by stores. The whole idea of them is restricting yourself, allowing yourself only one treat per day and having to wait for it, to earn it by patiently waiting and denying yourself for Christ. But ads on TV are all like: "It's about treating yourself! 😉 Every day you give yourself a little gift to appreciate yourself! 😁 It's all about you! You feeling good and comfortable! 😌"

Just, aaargh!! Yes it's good to celebrate and treat yourself sometimes and yes we as a society have such a toxic relationship with work that we have to be reminded about resting and enjoying ourselves. But Advent is NOT a time for that! It's a time for ascesis - which is an equally forgotten and an equally important skill in our society without which the whole treating yourself loses its meaning! It's a time to be less focused on your work, yes, but instead of focusing on yourself in its place, to focus on God and building your relationship with Him. How could they twist this awesome tool and reminder so awfully?!

[katiecraftsstuff]

Christmas Crafts!!!

These are some of the advent calendars I've made. The puzzle box had different fidgets and puzzles in the squares.

The book case one had different types of tea in each book.

The plant one had different types of seeds in each pot.

I wanted calendars that were tailor made for people and it was really hard to find any that were out of my budget so I ended up making them from bits of cardboard I had in the house. It one of the things I love about being a general crafter there is always random stuff laying around that can be repurposed.

[cosy-crafty-corner]

Stitching an embroidered advent calendar

I have been looking at ideas for advent calendars and I've come across a few that give you a sewing project to do over advent. So instead of necessarily opening doors, you do a bit of sewing to make up a bigger pattern. I think this is a fun idea, so I've had a go at coming up with my own design.

I went with a simple Christmas tree shape with some baubles and then some items in the background. My original thought was to do a Christmas tree shape with 24 circles and each circle would have a little Christmassy design on it, but either those designs would need to be tiny or the tree would need to huge, so instead I stuck with the Christmas tree shape but the idea now is that for each of the baubles you would pick a colour and a fill stitch and so you would end up with a selection of different shades and textures at the end of the month.

Here is my tree design:

I'm going to do it 6.5cm in diameter because I have a hoop that size so I can display it when I'm done.

And this is my plan for filling it out through advent. I haven't gone to the detail of picking specific DMC numbers for the shades or anything - I'll just go with what seems to work with the threads I have and the bits already done. I'm giving myself some flexibility to make my choices on the day in terms of the stitch I'm going to use and the exact shade.

1. Christmas tree outline - stem stitch or backstitch in dark green

2. Christmas tree pot - stem stitch or backstitch outline in red/brown/black or a fill stitch (e.g. satin stitch)

3. Star - yellow/orange/gold outline in stem stitch, or a fill stitch

4. Tree garlands - chain stitch in red

5 - 21. Baubles - fill in variety of fill stitches and colours

22. Background garland - chain stitch in red

23. Left stocking - black stem stitch outline - red satin stitch fill for bottom portion, white satin stitch fill for top

24. Right stocking - same as left

If anyone else wants to have a go at doing this (or similar), please do share photos.

[ayumidah]

24 days of duckies and Grinch ornaments. Yay.

[what-marsha-eats]

[richardsphere]

Richards "Yankee Candle ~ Snowglobe Wonderland Advent Calender" review. Day 6

Tealights again... Its a yellow-ish white. i hink I smell vanilla. which does fit the colour. I and that mystery "cold but not sharp" scent is there as well i think? But only if im directly putting my nose near the flame itself. 4/10 the scent isnt bad, its just barely there at all.

[cottonkhaleesi]

I don’t have a religious vibe but I do like a good calendarific excuse for treats, but even I admit I may have uhhhhh gone slightly overboard this year. 🫣

The cheese and popcorn advent calendars I have no excuse for: I wanted them and whoops there goes the money from my bank account!

The face masks one I bought to share with myself youngest sister when she returns from uni in a few weeks

The picture one I traipse out year after year, no notes.

The jigsaw calendar I got as a gift from my ma. Kinda excited for all I have to be in a specific mood for jigsaws

And the box is the fibremas exchange with @swords-n-spindles (my wonderful gifter) and co which you’ll see my contribution in a separate post because I was a little proud of myself 🩷 stupidly excited to tuck into this one!!

[thedaughterofdionysus]

Okay so in order to save myself from depression

I made a 10 day bucket list so I wont doom scroll and trigger another huge dissociative episode <3

Here it is:

(There are some stuff you may find a bit controversial)

-Decorate your apartment

-Declutter 20 items

-Finish doing an art collage

-Study everyday for 10 days

-Go on a walk with a podcast alone

-Try water fasting for a day

-Read min of 300 pages of a book

-Try drumming for min 30 minute (do it at least for 3 days )

-Decorate and declutter your balcony

-Go shopping for your apartment

-Go shop for your boyfriend (advent calendar edition)

-Call your family every day

-Spend an entire day alone

-Package the gifts you bought for your bf

-Write positive affirmations about yourself

-Journal every single day

-Start manifesting small things again

-Reach out to old friends every other day

-Talk to chat gpt therapist every day (controversial one but in my defense I am close to getting back to my deep depressive state and I have zero money for regular therapy)

-Do something creative every day

-Clean for 30 minutes every day

I am open to some new ideas too <3

We re doing this DIY 3d printed advent calendar with my boyfriend and it is super exciting and its almost finished so maybe we will paint that too.

Also because I basically live with my bf I realized that I almost never stay alone for a whole day with myself so I want to challange myself on that: I want to be more independent and accomplish a full day of being alone but we will see that might not be the best option for my mental health.

[juliamccartney]

if you have a christian background (religious or "culturally christian", whatever that means to you) —

[doctorjameswatson]

I need help making a decision on advent calendars: