In keeping with my effort to be deliberate about our traditions and what they teach our kids, I’ve started a new one this year based on the typical Advent calendar – you know, those paper things with windows to open and pictures to see which help you count down to Christmas.

Last year I knew I wanted to find a permanent Advent calendar we could re-use every year, becoming part of our family traditions. I wanted a religious one, rather than a “hang a new present on the Christmas tree” type of calendar or toy. I finally found one that fit the bill at Constructive Playthings; with my cheapskate patience, I waited until after Christmas and bought it on sale for this year.

Dear Family Members (specifically Gamma, who’s been hassling me for the last few months that there are no new photos up on the website for her to show off at work):

I’ve finally updated the photo galleries here at 1M2A, which means you can now see Maddie in something more recent than a Christmas shot. To view the newest photos, click on whatever random photo is currently on your screen. That’ll take you to the photo gallery. Once in the gallery, no matter what picture you’ve clicked on you’ll see the last photo listed on the left – number 241, “window gazing”. The photos numbered in chronological order, so that’s from the most recent batch. Clicking on that will take you to the end of the line and you can browse from there.

Of course, I’ve also updated “Maddie’s Friends”, mostly with pictures of her and her main hang, Naomi, so those are worth viewing as well.

So enjoy the new pics and show them around the office to your heart’s content. Happy now?

Yours truly,

Mommy

I have to make a couple disclaimers here:

First, if you don’t like chocolate, I’ll see you in a couple days. Best to stop reading now.

Second, this research was done as a service to you, the readers. I didn’t conduct it as an excuse to eat a lot of chocolate.

Ok, that second one may not be entirely true. But moving to the point of this article –

I’m an admitted chocoholic. Worse than that, I’m a snobby one – I love those expensive, dark chocolates with fancy names and ridiculously high cocoa contents. When I was pregnant with Madeleine, I remember being shocked and dismayed that I spent my whole first trimester NOT WANTING CHOCOLATE. Honestly, I thought it’d be the worst part of the pregnancy; how could I be robbed of one of my biggest joys? But no matter how I tried, the thought of chocolate didn’t get me excited.