When I was growing up we always had the advent wreath on the dining room table and an advent calendar on the refrigerator door. You open a little window on the calendar every day and reveal another piece of the bigger picture until you get to Christmas Eve. We always had sleigh rides, and we would paint apple rings with peanut butter and roll them in birdseed and then string them with orange slices, cranberries and stale cake donuts and then hang them in the trees for the birds. Much to my Dad's dismay my Mom always put out pans of chopped apples, carrots and celery for the deer too.
I still have an advent wreath and calendar. I still bake cinnamon cookies using my Grandmothers molds on December 6 for the feast of St Nicholas. We put our tree up around the 15, nothing fancy just tons of ornaments that have lots of special meaning for us. We put a Victorian snow covered village underneath complete with trees, operating skating rink, carousel and train. No presents until Santa comes on Christmas Eve. We also begin putting our nativity together on the 15.... I put it on top of the entertainment center and surround it with potted palms and other green growing plants. Then I put the painting away that normally hangs there and hang three angels. Then we add the statues a few at a time starting with the animals and ending with the baby Jesus on Christmas Eve.
