Although I didn’t know this as a child, this explanation I recently read on Wikipedia makes a lot of sense now because my mother was of German heritage and devoutly Lutheran: According to Wikipedia, the Advent Calendar was first used by German Lutherans in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Our mother, faithfully, gave my older sister and me one every year, which encouraged the excitement of the season right up to Christmas day. I carried on the tradition with my daughter, even when she would come home for the holidays from university, sometimes creating a style of my own to surprise her.
Always my favorite holiday, not just because of my potential wish coming true in a box, appropriately ribboned up for the season, of course, and under the Christmas tree, but also because of the tried and true gaiety of the time: music-singing-dancing, the magical sparkling lights and the family and friends being especially jovial, smiling widely, being kindhearted, generosity overflowing, caring for one another thoughtfully, and sincerely expressing their love throughout the holiday season.
So, for Day One of the Advent Calendar 2020–here is the first window open for you to enjoy:
A rather sophisticated Paris discovery with equal elegance hanging below the featured beaded tree ornament above. Flamant always puts on a vibrant show, with a walk through the shop being a must during the holiday season but really throughout the year to take in the current furnishings style giving you hints at how to do it yourself: https://www.flamant.com/en/products
The Advent Calendar image, at top, was photographed through the window of Maison Auer, a well-known candy shop star in Nice, France. I was so tempted to take several of the calendars home but I was concerned they would most certainly be rumpled and crushed in my already ‘no room’ suitcase(s). So a photograph had to suffice.
A quote from Maison Auer’s website: https://www.fruits-confits.com
“In the mid-nineteenth century, a young Swiss confectioner, Henri Auer, attracted by the abundance of Mediterranean fruit productions, came on the French Riviera and moved to Nice where his ‘prosperous business’ (business prospered).
In 1890, his son Henri-Christian takes the head of the institution and makes his famous candied fruit worldwide. Since 1931, Henri-Joseph and his son Jean-Jacques follow one another in the future of the institution.“
Thierry Auer represents the fifth generation of confectioners.
A Pocketful of Paris 
Thanks so much Judy for your blog! It brought back so many memories for the month of December growing up. Christmas was my mom’s favorite time of the year, sounds quite cliche doesn’t it, but so true. We always had Advent calendars which certainly helped with the much awaited and anticipated Christmas Day on Van Ettan Lake! Love EvaLee
LikeLike
I am delighted that you are enjoying my posts! After reading your comment this morning about your Advent calendar memories, your comment stirred up my memories! Samantha had asked me what my Advent calendars had looked like when I was a child and I couldn’t, at the time, conjure up an image. But about an hour after I read your comment, the most vivid image came up for me! There were not many creative styles like there are today, so you and I may have had similar looking ones or even the same one! Samantha came home with one for each of us a week or so ago, even one for her dog! I know they made an impression on me and, apparently, on Samantha too! Savor those memories! I know I am!
LikeLike