Mrs Wallop’s fabulous Advent calendar rant
It’s the last Sunday in Advent today. And for those not ‘in the know’ (me, in other words), I turned to our wonderful friend and ‘YTPR‘, the Revd Craig, for a quick update. Turns out, then, (bear with me here), that the four Sundays leading up to Chrimbo are called Advent Sundays. The first Sunday of Advent actually marks the beginning of the church year, and each Sunday has special significance. In a lot of churches there’s an ‘Advent wreath’ with four candles around the outside and one in the middle (which instantly brings to mind the startlingly bad wire coat-hanger/tinsel candelabra thing on Blue Peter). One candle is lit each week, finishing off with the one in the middle being lit on Christmas morning.
But let’s face it, to most of us (and certainly a giant proportion of our children), Advent is all about the chocky. And this leads me neatly on to my friend, Mrs Wallop, who’s got a few things to say about those. I love this. Onwards, then, Wallop:
Those that know me would attest to the fact that I’m not the most regular of Church goers. But I do know that Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’ birth. So why is this so rarely mentioned? If an alien came down to earth at this time of year, they would get the impression that Christmas was an exercise in shopping for expensive plastic crap, eating frozen canapés and ordering half price sofas. Don’t get me wrong, I realise that for children, Christmas is mostly about the presents, which I completely understand. I’d just like my children to know a little bit about WHY they get presents and what it is we are celebrating. Perhaps religion is just too embarrassing to talk about, or perhaps the marketing bods think it will turn people off buying their products.
Or is it just laziness on the part of product developers? The Christmas product that most makes my blood boil is the advent calendar. Advent is a time to get excited, make decorations out of large quantities of cotton wool, dream about presents and practise nativity plays. It’s fun for children to open a door every day watching with anticipation as the calendar counts down the days until Christmas. So why is it so hard to buy a calendar with a picture of the nativity or a Christmassy scene? I’d even settle for a non-specific wintery scene but all the shops are full of Ben 10, High School Musical, or Spiderman calendars full of cheap, waxy chocolate. And the thing that I hate most is that they can’t even be bothered to make them look Christmassy. Is it really too much effort to add a spring of holly to the picture of Ben 10? It’s lazy and exploitative, they know that every child dragged around the supermarket by unwilling parents will be begging for them, Christmassy or not.
I think it’s really sad. The nativity story is a wonderful, accessible tale full of light and miracles, and who doesn’t need a little bit of that in the depth of winter? My happiest childhood Christmas memories involve elaborate nativity scenes created by our Spanish neighbour, decorating the house with giant paper bells (it was the 70′s),candle lit carol services, and spending time with cousins, grandparents and friends. These memories are not all to do with the Christian aspect of Christmas, but they are about valuing the important things in life. And Ben 10 is not one of them.
21 Responses to “Mrs Wallop’s fabulous Advent calendar rant”
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Believe it or not, my children haven’t yet noticed that everyone else has chocolate calendars, despite the 2 eldest being at school. It’s nit that I object, cos they eat plenty of chocolate, I just couldn’t find a nice one. They have two card calendars with chritmassy scenes and pics of rocking horses and angels behind the doors. We also have a homemade indiana jones lego calendar to squabble over. In the spirit of Christmas films you understand. I think next year we might have to instigate an adults wine calendar too, a very fine idea
If you are prepared to put in a lot of effort you can find chocolate calenders with the Nativity on, but the best bet is to make your own…
Oh and we make sure we celebrate Christmas as the birth of Christ in our household, and this year are even making a Birthday cake for Jesus!
Yes indeed – bring on the mince pies!
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