DIY Advent Calendars are the best! Want some ideas for next year?

Temperature outside: Minus 2 degrees. No snow.

DIY Advent Calendar: Little gifts on a long rope. Made by a good friend for me this year.

I would like to make something clear before you guys get a wrong impression: I am no Christmas lunatic! 🙂 My flat isn’t full of decoration and lights. Neither am I religious. But don’t you love to sit with a hot chocolate on your comfy couch while it’s cold and dark outside? See, that’s Christmas time. It’s the only time of the year when sitting inside and having horrible weather is actually very nice! I guess it has something to do with childhood. We learn from the beginning that Christmas is magical. (And getting presents isn’t too bad either.) I still stick to the traditions of my childhood. One of them is the Advent calendar.  I NEED to have one every year so someone has to make one for me. Self-made calendars are still the best!

Advent wreath – First candle burning

Temperature outside: 0 degrees. No snow yet.

One candle burning. Happy first Advent!

The Advent wreath is a custom in Germany to pass the time before Christmas. Four weeks, four candles. Each sunday you light another one until all of them are burning. Originally, Advent wreaths are made out of green fir branches. I think the most plausible explanation is that the four candles symbolize the wait for and the increasing anticipation of the birth of Jesus Christ. 175 years ago, in 1839, it is said, a theologian in Hamburg invented this custom.

I think, it’s pretty. Happy first Advent!

Series: Christmas in Germany

Tomorrow’s the first day of advent season and I am planning a series about “Christmas in Germany”. Customs, decorations, maybe some photography if I find the time. 🙂 I really love Christmas, but it can be also very annoying and you will find some of my thoughts on the gifts madness here for sure! I hope some of the other blogs out there post interesting things about their Christmas time as well. How do you celebrate Christmas in your country? This will be fun!