What Happened in 1998?

   When we were children, our mother would purchase an Advent Calendar for the Holidays. There were three of us that one grandmother called, her 'kidlits' or in other words, her little kids. There are 24 days traditionally on an Advent calendar in December, so we three would take turns in opening one window each day. If memory serves me correctly, the order was most likely based on age. My brother (the oldest), would start on day 1, followed by me on day 2 and then our younger sister on day 3, and so on and so forth in this manner through December 24th.   I long remember this childhood pleasure and the joy and excitement and the anticipation of the next day, all through December. Each day brought special new surprises as each little window was opened.

   In 1998, I was reminiscing over holidays past and thinking about these Advent calendars. To my surprise and delight, it was discovered that the same company which produced those cards I was familiar with as a child was still in business and remains so to this day. I was 'blown away' when I recognized some of the cards from my youth and that reprints are still available.

   In the age of the Internet, I thought it would be really 'cool' if there were some type of Advent Calendar available online. There was not. So in 1998, I made my own. To the best of my knowledge, we were the first to do so. We have been sharing this joy online for FREE, every year since 1998.

   Although historically and traditionally, the Advent Calendar has only 24 days, I added December 25th as well. Over the years, I have tried to imitate the act of opening windows. Each year is planned around a theme and contain animation, music and other special effects.

   Around 2004, I was thinking about another of my childhood joys, the 'snow globe.' Snow globes are little miniature holiday scenes, 'domed,' and filled with a mixture of water and oil and something that resembles fallen snow. As the globe is shaken, it stirs up the white glitter-like material and result in a magic little scene where it appears to be snowing inside.  Since 2004, I have made animated snow globes to be shared online and have included them in the Annual Online Advent Calendar.

   Please take a look at some examples of our past online Advent Calendars, by clicking on the link to follow.

Luv Yah,

  T