Twenty years ago, I was at a store and saw a special Advent Calendar. It was a cute little wooden house. I thought it would be the perfect gift for my son and his wife who were about to become parents.
The house would be nicer than those paper Advent Calendars that you throw away every year. Maybe my grandchild would look forward to seeing it each year. I filled the 24 drawers with candy and gave it to my son as a birthday present.
Two days after Christmas, he brought the house back to me and said, “That was great! Can you do it again next year?”
I had not expected that return, but how could I say no? So a new Jelinek Christmas tradition was born.
I believe that what you do for one son, you must do for all your sons. So, the other two sons also got wooden Advent houses when they started having children. I now have 10 grandchildren and that means every year I must find 16 pieces of 24 different kinds of Christmas candy. At first, I tried to find small candy so five or six pieces could fit into the little drawers. Now I say so what if only the kids’ candy fits in a drawer!
There is another problem. I can never find a bag that just has 16 pieces of candy in it. I only buy candy that I like, and I can’t eat all of those “leftovers.” My solution is to give my friends little bags of the extra candies on December 6, St. Nicholas Day. My friends may think I am being nice when really I am just trying to get rid of the leftovers!
Every year I think about telling my sons to fill the houses themselves. But then I hear that my grandchildren say they love getting a treat from me every day and I’m glad that I’m keeping this tradition alive.
Who knows, maybe I will even give the grandchildren a wooden advent house of their own when they get married?
What would Christmas be without family traditions? I hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas and enjoy all the traditions your family has created.
