December Photo Project -- Day 12

My mom always says be careful what you wish for because it just might come true and I found that to be the case today with the family advent calendar. As a child we had a long-standing tradition of getting a small piece of candy about 30 minutes before bedtime. We got a piece of candy, then brushed our teeth and headed off to bed. At Christmas those candies were put on an advent calendar my grandma made and on the 24th there was always a small package for us to open to help curb the question my parents were being bombarded with, "Can we open a present now?" After I bought my house I remember asking my mom if I could have the advent calendar, but was always told no. When we had Matthew I asked again and was told no. Last year, without asking, my mom brought the calendar over and gave it to us. To Matthew really, but he won't get it now until he has a child. Last year I don't remember getting it in time to adorn it with candies and packages, and this year I've been very slow in getting the days filled with goodies. So today I sat down and started placing Tootsie Rolls on each day, quickly learning that this was no easy task. I don't know how my mom did it for so many years, and how she managed to get two pieces of candy on the calendar AND keep her sanity. It took me far longer than I anticipated to get everything on there, but it's done and Matthew's anticipation in getting a piece of candy tonight is hard to deal with. Every few minutes he asks if its time to have his Toosie Roll yet. We know also have regular conversations about when Christmas is going to be here and when he gets to open his presents. And by regular I mean, when he's not talking about Tootsie Rolls and eating them, he's asking about Christmas and presents. I may be ready to clear off the calendar by the end of the night. Despite the challenge of affixing candies to a calendar and the never-ending stream of questions, I'm thrilled to be able to pass this tradition on to my son. And secretly I can't wait for Santa to get here either!