Advent

Today (well officially Sunday) is the first day of Advent, the season of Christmas. A couple of weeks ago I received a mysterious box from my parents, not to be opened until now. I have no idea how she fit it, but inside a shoebox, my Mom has put 24 envelopes to open throughout the month and one Christmas present at the bottom. I mean, seriously! Once I stopped crying, I was able to open #1 and I have a little more idea of where this will be going. It was a piece of my favorite toys ever, playmobil. Will update. (Oh and yes, you must be crazy, which is why I love you.) It is pictured below with my official Top Gear advent calendar.
Here is a great article about how this calendar is contributing to putting "Christmas in danger of becoming an empty shell into which we stuff all our fads." Personally, I think it's brilliant. C and I are big fans of the show and I think a TG advent calendar isn't any worse than any of the non holiday themed ones I've seen here (High School Musical and Hannah Montana jump to mind).
Besides, my first fact was "Some say he thinks 10 lords a-leaping are just too many." That's holday related!
Even our extremely Christmas themed advent calendar at home became the source of some controversy. Once both the felt angel and star were revealed, they often mysteriously swapped places for the top of the ajoining Christmas tree. (It's a nondisposable felt tree for which each day you get a velcro-backed ornament for it.)

To feel loved and cared for is truly all I need to survive.