Today is December 1st and in our collection of family traditions this begins the season of advent calendars. Years ago my two girls, Eva and Sophia, received as gifts cross stitched advent calendars from a friend in Germany. Each day, beginning on the first of December and ending on the 24th, Christmas eve, I would always tie a small gift on to the little rings attached to the calendars. The girls always looked forward to it and it helped to prolong and build up the excitement leading to  Christmas. When I married Paul 3 1/2 years ago, (this is our 4th Christmas together) I didn’t want his kids, Cheryl, Mark and Sam to feel left out, but I didn’t have the time to whip up three more cross stitched calendars and I couldn’t find where to buy them, so I made up my own version. I took a long piece of ribbon and sewed 24 rings to it. It is not as elaborate as the ones my girls received, but it serves the same purpose and my stepchildren appreciated the effort and welcomed the new tradition.