SusieJ's Advent Calendar: December 1, 2007

The recipe: Fruitcake

If you haven't already, today is the day to bake fruitcake so that you'll have enough time to "water" it with whiskey (a tablespoon or two twice a week). I find the key to a really good fruitcake is finding the freshest ingredients, including the mixed peel.

The surprise: Advent calendars on line

Advent calendars have to be one of the best things about the web:

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ...

And that means Advent calendars! The calendar was always the first decoration out of the box. It was a paper calendar from my German godfather; it showed angelic children in a kitchen and was covered in sparkles. I loved opening each little door to find the tiny pictures, even though I'd seen them every Christmas I could remember. As much as I wanted to open the doors early — as if that would get Christmas here earlier — I usually managed to open one a day.

That calendar is long gone (and I've looked to replace it on German eBay), but now my son is using the large felt Christmas tree my stepmother gave me twenty years ago. Each day we snap a hand-made ornament on the tree.

Advent calendars are a German tradition that began in the 1800s. Today in Germany there are a near infinite number of paper calendars available, along with calendars with chocolate (either cheap or with brandy), and from toy companies (Lego makes a nice one). Many mothers make calendars, and stores offer a variety of small toys for children to open each day.

Of course, when the web started, some wonderful Advent calendars appeared. Web designer Leslie Harpold made the best calendar: every day, she wrote a memory, added a special treat like her own flash animation or recipe, and linked to an outside web side. This year, I'm using the same format.