Advent

Since it's the first day of December and the first of advent is tomorrow I wanted to feature a post on advent calendars. Growing up I had a large handmade advent house that had doors I could open every morning from the first of December through the 24th. I thought it was the Christmas Elf bringing me my goodies. After being in Germany during the Christmas season I was overwhelmed by all of the advent calendars! When I say I saw over 100 styles that may be an understatement. I even found a doggie advent calendar I brought back for my little Charley.

Here is an advent house my mother in law got us a few years ago and Charley's doggie advent calendar! He got his first treat today!

My little reindeer! 

Advent Wreaths

Simple rustic advent wreath from Little Scandinavian 

Pinecone, bar and acorn wreath from Danish site Madogbolig

Advent wreath in topiary form from Madogbolig

Beautiful wildflower advent wreath from Hegegreenall-Scholtz

Advent Houses & Calendars

Insanely beautiful wooden Christmas truck advent calendar from Neiman Marcus

Gnome Santa advent calendar with little boxes that can be filled with gifts from Ikea

Paper 3D Gingerbread House Advent Calendar from German Steins

A few photos of some advent calendars I saw in Germany: 

I brought this advent calendar back from Germany and happened to find it online. This is hanging in my office at work. This one is not filled with candy, but images. I happened to come across this online in the US at Blueberry Forest

Large Santa hanging advent calendar

For the gents in your life, this was a large and heavy advent calendar filled with beer!

My mom's hometown, Iserlohn is celebrating its 775 year anniversary and the local confectionery store Spetsmann founded in 1939 designed this specialty advent calendar filled with truffles.