Man’s Advent calendar has survived for 47 years

The countdown to Christmas never changes for Robert Sissons.

For the 58-year-old has marked the occasion in the same way each year since he was 11 – with an ever-ageing Advent calendar which is now 47 years old.

Mr Sissons was first given the paper pop-up Nativity scene by his parents in December 1969.

At the time he was living in Manor Road, Bearsted, and in a bid to re-use it, he carefully opened each door until Christmas Eve.

It is a habit he has repeated every year since.

Decades later, the nostalgic calendar is still in full working order. Unlike today’s examples, Mr Sissons did not find a chocolate surprise behind each door, but a picture which he recorded in a diary each day.

Mr Sissons said: “After Christmas, I closed all the doors and kept the calendar pressed between the pages of a very thick book.”

He said it has even travelled with him when he had worked abroad in France and Spain.

Mr Sissons, who now lives in Sandgate and works for Saga’s cruise department, said: “I have got it out every year, although there may have been one or two exceptions. “It means a great deal to me.” When on display, the calendar is often placed on the top of a bookshelf, where guests assume it is a large, old-fashioned Christmas card.

The festive countdown has survived numerous house moves and has even been sat on by Mr Sissons’ cat.

Although Mr Sissons does not have any children of his own, he said the calendar will be passed on to other children in his family, who live in New Zealand.