Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar
Dec. 11th, 2011 09:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marinessIt's a gloomy, grey day out – quite Christmas like for Florida, at least as far as weather goes, despite the lack of snow, with dangling lights and the occasional plastic snowman to give a sense of the weather.
Over coffee, I carefully punched out another hole in cardboard.
I first saw Advent calendars when we lived in Italy. I fell in love with them immediately – the idea of getting another new little picture each day, of wondering what was beneath the little flaps, of wondering what the next day would bring – it added to the wonder and anticipation of the holidays. I was even more enthralled because we couldn't immediately have one – we were travelling to Florida for Christmas that year, and the next, and British Airways frowned on the thought of small children lugging large cardboard calendars on board for the sake of punching holes to see the next little pictures. It was not until our third year there that we got one, and I was allowed to carefully open each picture. We had a little Advent wreath to light candles on, too, and it glowed near the calendar.
And that was the end of the Advent calendars for years. When we returned to the States, decent and affordable Advent calendars were few and far between, and that travelling issue raised its head again. I almost got one in college, but realized again I would have to schlepp it back and forth. Post college, I was always either too broke, too dispirited, too busy, too travelling, or too unimpressed with the available calendars to buy one….even as I found myself looking at them, hands twitching, wanting to feel that tiny bit of wonder of what was behind the flap. (I admit that the chocolate ones were particularly temping, but I only seemed to find those on years when I was on a particularly tight budget.)
Then a certain friend, called @cyberlizard on Twitter, typed in a few fateful words:
Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar.
You are on a very tight budget, I told myself sternly. You have completely failed to finish a novel this year, which is not improving the condition of the very tight budget.
And yet. Not long afterwards I found myself at Target. It couldn't hurt to, you know, LOOK at the Legos, since I clearly and obviously wasn't buying any of them at all.
I don't know exactly how the Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar jumped into my trike. It Just Did.
I stowed it away in my closet for a few weeks, until December came, and I could start punching out each day.
The Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar is not exactly showing me new and improved Star Wars pictures (it has pictures outside the box.) What it does have is little Lego toys. So far I have uncovered a Chewbacca (not in Christmas clothing, although it looks as if the Yoda will be in a Santa Claus outfit) and a Rebel and a Trader and an X-wing (that was a bit tricky to put together since Lego added a couple extra pieces, very frustrating, so I felt I was doing it wrong) and things to hold little Lego weapons in and a couple of other fighter pieces.
I open a new hole over coffee each morning, wondering what little bit of Star Wars toys I'll get this time. And I think this is the sort of magic I may need to return to in future years.
Over coffee, I carefully punched out another hole in cardboard.
I first saw Advent calendars when we lived in Italy. I fell in love with them immediately – the idea of getting another new little picture each day, of wondering what was beneath the little flaps, of wondering what the next day would bring – it added to the wonder and anticipation of the holidays. I was even more enthralled because we couldn't immediately have one – we were travelling to Florida for Christmas that year, and the next, and British Airways frowned on the thought of small children lugging large cardboard calendars on board for the sake of punching holes to see the next little pictures. It was not until our third year there that we got one, and I was allowed to carefully open each picture. We had a little Advent wreath to light candles on, too, and it glowed near the calendar.
And that was the end of the Advent calendars for years. When we returned to the States, decent and affordable Advent calendars were few and far between, and that travelling issue raised its head again. I almost got one in college, but realized again I would have to schlepp it back and forth. Post college, I was always either too broke, too dispirited, too busy, too travelling, or too unimpressed with the available calendars to buy one….even as I found myself looking at them, hands twitching, wanting to feel that tiny bit of wonder of what was behind the flap. (I admit that the chocolate ones were particularly temping, but I only seemed to find those on years when I was on a particularly tight budget.)
Then a certain friend, called @cyberlizard on Twitter, typed in a few fateful words:
Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar.
You are on a very tight budget, I told myself sternly. You have completely failed to finish a novel this year, which is not improving the condition of the very tight budget.
And yet. Not long afterwards I found myself at Target. It couldn't hurt to, you know, LOOK at the Legos, since I clearly and obviously wasn't buying any of them at all.
I don't know exactly how the Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar jumped into my trike. It Just Did.
I stowed it away in my closet for a few weeks, until December came, and I could start punching out each day.
The Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar is not exactly showing me new and improved Star Wars pictures (it has pictures outside the box.) What it does have is little Lego toys. So far I have uncovered a Chewbacca (not in Christmas clothing, although it looks as if the Yoda will be in a Santa Claus outfit) and a Rebel and a Trader and an X-wing (that was a bit tricky to put together since Lego added a couple extra pieces, very frustrating, so I felt I was doing it wrong) and things to hold little Lego weapons in and a couple of other fighter pieces.
I open a new hole over coffee each morning, wondering what little bit of Star Wars toys I'll get this time. And I think this is the sort of magic I may need to return to in future years.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-12 03:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-13 12:51 am (UTC)I must say that I've been underwhelmed by most of the U.S. made Advent calendars -- they just look cheap and awful and tacky, except for the ones that look way, way way out of my budget. Sad because honestly the concept is a lot of fun.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-13 01:32 am (UTC)