Reply to we're Jewish, 7yo daughter wants advent calendar

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Advent is a “little Lent”.  It is a mournful time in which we travel in a spiritual sense with the Holy Family as they search for a place to stay.  The joyful feast of Christmas does not begin until Christmas Eve or Day depending on the tradition.  Advent should not be a “countdown” to Christmas, but rather a time of spiritual preparation for receiving Christ.

[/quote]

Yes, but "Advent Calendars" have nothing to do with the religious aspects of Advent.  They don't even start at the start of Advent.  They start on December 1st, and they are all about counting down to the 25th.

Growing up, the German advent calendars we had were sometimes religious, in that you opened the door and saw something that was related in some way to the Christmas story (e.g. a picture of a sheep) and then on Christmas Eve, you opened one with a picture of Jesus in the manger.  But other years they were pictures of toys.

I would put Advent Calendars in the same category as Christmas trees, The Night Before Christmas, etc. . . definitely culturally Christian, but not a lot of religious content.  As an atheist family of Christian origin, we don't think twice about doing them, but I can see why a family with distinct traditions might not want to.

I totally agree that, if you wanted to, you could do some kind of Hanukkah count down that would have the same idea, with a different end date.  Or you could just tell your kid "I'm sorry, that's not something we're doing.  We have our own traditions, do you want to play dreidl?" Neither is wrong.

I'll also say that while I enjoyed the Advent calendars with pictures, and my kid did too, I think that Advent calendars where you actually get stuff are a bit much.  You've got a ton of presents coming.  You don't need 24 more presents, even tiny ones, to get ready for the big one.  [/quote]

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