Advent calendar season is upon us
Eat, drink, and eat and drink more with inventive holiday countdowns
It’s Advent calendar season! Perhaps your family is like mine and exchanges calendars as a way to connect and celebrate.
If so, read on. If not, also read on!
The history of the physical Advent calendar dates back as far as 1851 as a handmade wooden “figurine” calendar marking the season of Advent (Latin for “arrival”) and the birth of Jesus Christ. The season started Sunday and continues through the next four. As Advent calendars have become more mainstream, the countdown is usually pegged to Dec. 25 (no matter the day of the week) and calendars contain cookies, jam, bourbon, wine, flowers and all sorts of sundry items behind little doors or in envelopes. There’s not much that isn’t in Advent calendar form.
Bailey Potterf of Norfolk, a cottage baker, is making bespoke macarons for her gorgeous 2023 calendar. Not to be confused with a macaroon, a macaron is a delicate French cookie with two halves (like an Oreo but glutenfree and not an Oreo) with fun fillings like ganache or a jammy fruit spread. Each calendar consists of 12 with flavors including Christmas tree cake and eggnog. You can snag some of her macs at Virginia Beach Pourfavor coffee or Mason Soleil in Norfolk. Her favorite? Maple Brown Butter.
Callie Armstrong with
Ryleigh’s Sweets in Newport News is hopping on the Taylor Swift train with her cookie calendar and wants you to look like the perfect parent. Instead of 12 days, you get 13 days of tasty treats (a nod to Swift’s lucky number) and perhaps a friendship bracelet or two. Armstrong moved to Virginia with her military husband and created her cookie business to do what she loves and be home with her children.
In Virginia Beach, TheCasual Pint wants you, the beer lover in your life, or both, to have 24 days to find a new favorite brew. TCP started selling their custom beer calendars at the beginning of November. Each highlights hand-selected craft beers in a variety of styles in an adorable pop-open top box. If you already know your favorites, they will create a custom calendar just for
you.
Local grocers are all in on the calendar action, too.
Lidl, Aldi, and The
Fresh Market (multiple locations) have loads. Aldi carries a fun Festive Voyage of 24 Cheeses that coincidentally pairs incredibly well with its Holiday Magic Wine calendar, a behemoth box with cute splits of wine from all over the world. Be aware — the box is a bit on the flimsy side for so much wine.
Online and primed for delivery to your very discerning wine friend, makerwine.com has a 12-day calendar featuring canned wines from small producers and is full of fun wines with great maker ( just like the name!) stories. I’m partial to the Chenin Blanc, a certified sustainable wine by female winemaker, Colleen Sullivan of Revolution Wines in Sacramento, California. It’s a versatile white that puzzle-piece fits with Virginia oysters.
If you aren’t much into the wine or the like there are so many other options. I have a very stylish friend who does the Bonne
Maman Jam Advent calendar each year and gets so much joy from it. The calendar has 24 “doors” all holidayed up and each door opens to a mini fruit spread or honey with wildly delicious-sounding flavors such as cherry with hibiscus flower, sweet orange and passion fruit, and lemon yuzu. bonnemaman.us
A cozy Advent gift is never a bad idea. Tea Forte’s cute little calendar comes to you as a triangle (like a little tea-filled tree) and each flap opens to a new tea. So far, winter chai is my favorite. teaforte.com