A Christmas Advent Calendar for non-crafty types

Note from the grumpy author: Winter illnesses love me, and in the last three weeks have loved me so much that I’ve experienced nearly every possible symptom under the (wintery) sun. Most notable is the exhaustion, not least because everyone in our household is suffering from the same throat-tickling cough all hours of the day and the night, and I am done. Done. Hopefully we’ll be out of it in time for me to think about Christmas, but in the meantime, I leave you with a post from last year, when I discovered anew the joys of Advent.

Once upon a time, I was an avid painter and drawer, then life happened and the creative well ran dry. For me, it coincided with adulthood, work, and having less free time and other activities to focus on. I do get the itch from time to time to pick up a brush or a pen, but I struggle to just pick up and go, I tend to need a project or theme, an occasion or a specific request. Then I can flourish.

Not crafts though. I’ve tried my hand at a few things: scrapbooking, cross-stitch, paper craft, stamping, but I gave up almost before I got started. Too many options, too much money to spend to make it half-decent, too bitty on the whole to appeal to me.

Still for many years I’ve wanted to own a proper advent calendar but although I’ve seen some amazing ones on sale, I’ve…

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