Day by day

Today's entry is in response to this post about holiday decorations and one's favorite as a child. That's an easy one.

My favorite Christmas decoration from my childhood was a felt Advent wall calendar. The big white rectangle had pockets for each day across the top and bottom. A big green tree in the middle was dotted with beads for hanging the daily ornaments. Even though us kids knew what ornament was in each day's pocket after so many years (or could peek), it was always fun to go through it day by day.

With three brothers there was always a certain amount of competition for who would get to take out each day's piece. I don't remember how that was resolved. Through the years the beads seemed to have more trouble holding onto the loops used to attach the ornaments to the tree, or maybe it was that we got taller and thus were more likely to brush them off when passing by.

There must be something intrinsically appealing about Advent calendars. In my high school German class I remember that we were excited to see what was behind the door each day of the culturally specific calendar. Imagine high school students being interested in something like that!

I've had pleasant reminders of these old calendars with the holiday update of iPhone game Angry Birds. Unlike the regular game, you can't unlock levels as you complete them. Instead, a new one is available each day leading up to Christmas. Rather than working through them all in a few days or a week, there's a new little thrill each day. I'm like a kid all over again.