The Treadmill to Christmas
It's begun - barely noticeable, but the treadmill has started, and it's cranking slowly. However, we all know that it will be picking up the pace between now and December 25th.
How do I know it's begun that relentless cycle to the holidays? Because Wirecutter announced this week that the best Advent calendars for 2026 are now available - and we would all be best to get ours ASAP before they sell out. As The Strategist wrote recently: "Hark! the Advent Calendars Arrived (Very) Early This Year." I mean, really, it's not even the middle of October yet!
Advent calendars have changed dramatically since I was a child - and even since my adult children were kids. Gone are the days of two dimensional winter scenes with a bit of glitter thrown on for good measure and with 24 little windows that would be opened - one a day - between December 1st and Christmas Eve. Behind those windows might be a tiny image of a stocking, a decorated tree, or a Christmas cookie. Particularly religious calendars would have a Bible verse coupled with an angel, Mary, a sheep, or the three magi.
Advent calendars today are three dimensional, much more elaborate, and way more expensive. The most expensive one I could find for 2026 was "The Old and Rare Whisky Calendar Deluxe Edition." It features twenty-four 30 ml drams of rare whiskies and costs $2899.99 excluding shipping.
However, there are many other calendars to choose from if you're not into whiskey - from skin care products to tea to Swedish fish to cheese to rubber ducks to toys. Legos and Matchbox have jumped on this particularly profitable bandwagon. Even National Geographic has joined the mayhem.
The ones I find most despicable are those that roll the two shortest seasons of the church liturgical year (Advent at 4 weeks and Christmas at 12 days) into one consumerist onslaught of 12 calendar gifts to open between December 1st and 24th.
Needless to way, I think there are more meaningful ways to prepare for Christmas for both adults and children. I'll be highlighting some of them in future newsletters. And, of course, I think a quiet evening spent reading The Grapefruit Dish is another way to see how the deeper meaning of Christmas is found not so much in things as in attitudes, priorities, and memories.