When I was little, December was accompanied by a sound that, to this day, is evocative of those peppermint taffy candies that have a little tree in the center. The sound is of a big jingle bell banging against a door.
The reason is because of the advent calendar that my mom made for each on of us. When I was little, mine was red, about three feet long with green yarn that was used to tie the candy on and had a big bell attached to the bottom. Of course, there were 24 strings for 24 pieces of candy and we got to eat one candy each night after dinner as we counted down to Santa’s arrival. My mom would hang them on the pantry door so each time she would open and close it, the three bells, one for each of us kids, would wack against it, chiming the whole season through. We didn’t buy candy at the Hansen house. Money was tight, candy was a treat, so we just didn’t have it around. I don’t think it really mattered the flavor or kind, just the idea that we got to eat candy EVERY NIGHT all through December was incredibly exciting, and would send us all running to the calendar as soon as the dinner table was cleared!
When I became an adult, my mom decided to pass the advent calendars on to each one of us kids. By that time, they were pretty worn out from so many days of tugging on strings and getting wacked on the door. I salvaged what I could and made a fresh one. The poem part, that my mom typed up on an old fashioned typewriter with red ink is grimy and yellowed, but it is the original from my calendar. The Santa attached on top was found in my grandmother’s things and passed onto me, it seemed a perfect replacement for the accordion tissue paper Santa who had adorned mine for many years.
Now my kids will share a tradition and memory with me. They only have one to share, so two candies are tied to each string these days, and the peppermint taffies were deemed ‘too spicy’ so we have Twix and KitKat instead, but the idea is the same. Perhaps it will be one of those things that they will cast aside someday, but I will have great pleasure throughout the years that remain before me, come December and the bell starts ringing again.
