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The only kind of Advent Calendar we have ever had was the little window ones. You open the window and there is a piece of chocolate in it. They were boring. This year we have the Time Enough for Love Advent Calendar and it is fantastic! The girls are beyond themselves with excitement for December to get here. It will help them to understand how many days are left until Christmas and give me some peace without answering that same question over and over again! This advent calendar was the coolest we've seen. We always do some kind of "Countdown 'til Christmas" and we try to get creative each year and not just give out candy. These calendars have trinkets, toys and treasures that are sure to get your kiddos excited about the holidays! We also use ours as an added incentive for good behavior and completing chores. In my opinion, the greatest thing about this calendar is that it can be reused year after year! Although we have always used some type of countdown to Christmas tracker, last year was the first time my family used an advent calendar. It was quite a novelty, but it began a new tradition for us. One complaint I have about traditional advent calendars is that the compartments or boxes are tiny, so there is only room for one small surprise inside. This requires the children to take turns, which is fine if you have two or three children. Once you reach four children or more, it seems like quite a long wait for each child to have a turn again. That is why this advent calendar from Time Enough For Love appealed to me. The boxes are 2-1/2" x 5", which is plenty of room for me to put three candies, 3 erasers, 3 Squinkies, 3 Trash Pack toys, etc . . . in each box. When I was a child I couldn’t wait for Christmas. I would start counting down the days right after Thanksgiving! My kids are the same way. They get such joy looking at the calendar and figuring out how many more days until Santa arrives. This year will be even more fun for them with a Time Enough For Love Advent Calendar. These calendars are not just for kids, you can even have one personalized for adults or for a whole family. How cool is that? I can’t wait to fill my calendar up with small gifts for my children and see the happiness and magic in their eyes as they open up a new surprise every day! We received the empty family advent calendar and have to say I love the concept! It's really cute, doesn't take up much space and the boxes are big enough to personalize each day's "gift". Time Enough for Love Advent Calendars are not just for children. The free standing, adult calendars are artifully made boxes decorated with an attractive wood burning fireplace motif. The two sizes of gift boxes are filled with carefully chosen useful and/or entertaining gifts. The daily gifts include items such as beautiful flower-shaped candles, a small book light, a brightly colored high quality potholder or even a hammer-shaped pen. What child doesn’t love counting down the days until Christmas? With decorations and music being played before Thanksgiving these days, I’m sure plenty of children have already started! Many of you may have some sort of advent calendar in your home for the 24 days leading up until Christmas where you open a door and find a piece of candy each day. But what if you had a special advent calendar, something that could hold small gifts to be opened each day leading up to Christmas? The Time Enough for Love Advent Calendar makes that option possible. With 24 small boxes to be opened each day, you can fill them with a little trinket, stuffed animal, or even a special surprise. The tradition of the advent calendar is a wonderful way to help your little ones "get through" all those long days and weeks leading up to the BIG day - Christmas. These calendars are made from sturdy cardboard and provide small boxes (each marked with the day and a printed design) stacked in a tower-like form. The calendar itself is decorated like a brick chimney and is a fun and personal way to give your kids a treat every day in December. The little boxes are big enough to fill with small toys and other goodies, but not too big as to make it clumsy and difficult to display. Also, as the boxes are opened, the chimney has printed pictures on the inside back so you're not just looking at cardboard. Time Enough for Love has thought of everything! We have always had an advent gift calendar in our family for as long as I can remember. Two years ago I moved my family from Canada to Asia on a short-term contract. The move was really hard on us all and my two teenage children were really homesick. My mum decided to send us a little taste of home and much to our surprise a box containing our old familiar advent calendar appeared with the gifts all wrapped to tuck inside. My teenagers got so much pleasure out of their turn at the calendar that year and each little gift prompted a chat about home and family that made us all laugh and cry. Somehow we didn’t feel quite so far away for the whole month of December. ~ Phaedra F. My friend S is very sensitive to her single female girlfriends and knows how challenging life can be after a loss or breakup that leaves a woman living alone. She has made sure that I have had an advent gift calendar every year since I became a widow. The first year or two it made my day a little brighter at a dark time and now it makes me feel connected to another human being in a really important way. ~ Margaret J. My two small children have had the fun of a Christmas gift calendar since they were babies. The little presents in their clever little boxes have helped to calm the lead up to Christmas and have also made number recognition and taking turns a big part of each December’s learning experience. My five year old is equally excited for her little brother as she is for herself and she approaches Christmas Day with an extra ordinary amount of patience. I suspect the gift calendar has contributed to this mature attitude because I've noticed the same attitude in my older niece and nephew who were also raised with the gift calendar tradition. ~ Danielle K.
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