Ahhh, Advent calendars!

Well, here we are, December 1st. Even though I'm one of those people who listens to Christmas music all year long and starts my Gift shopping in January,the Christmas season really starts for me when we open that first spot on the advent calendar. When I was a kid, we got a new calendar every year (usually one) and my sister and I would fight over who's turn it was to open the door. Sometimes,there was a little piece of chocolate behind that tiny door; sometimes a new little picture with a bible verse for the day. One year I can even remember having a Flinstone's Vitamin calendar,one of the few years when my sister and I each got our own, with a little Fred or Dino behind the doors. Usually by the 8th or the 9th my sister and I had a rotation figured out, but that first day was hard.Both of us always remembered that the other had been first last year and my mom would devise some strange strategy to decide the question,like,"Whoever guesses the color of the caboose on this train going past gets first pick". (Do trains even have cabooses anymore?)
My Mom was really great about building the anticipation factor. We didn't have much money with her being a single parent, but she always seemed to make the waiting and planning more fun than the actual day. I won't lie to you and tell you that we were perfect kids and didn't want expensive presents, but my Mom managed to make the choosing, baking, decorating, and even the waiting so filled with excitement and suspense that we couldn't wait to hand out gifts and see family. In fact, until I was 12 or 13 I never even realized that we had small Christmases, they were never small in my mind. Christmas was definitely my Mom's holiday.
And now, I have my own little girl. Already she loves the lights and decorations. We stand on the front porch every night and look at all of the neighbors lights. She's been so much fun so far, and it's only December 1st. Now to go open the first door on her first advent calendar...