Week of November 15th - pull down the rest of the Christmas boxes. From now until December 22nd, put up a decoration here and there. No stress or schedule. Just lots of hot chocolate and Irish Cream.
Last week of November - bake, clean, write Christmas cards (sometimes homemade, sometimes a Christmas letter, whatever)
Last Saturday in November - St. Nicholas traditionally arrives in Holland by boat. We celebrate by having a fish dinner and talking about all of the things that are going to be happening in the upcoming weeks.
November 30th - we hang our Advent Calendars for each other. Each pocket contains a favourite candy or nuts etc. (total cost of filling the pockets of both calendars is under $3) and a Bible quote.
December 1st - Secret Santa. Since there were only two of us, this was kinda funny. We do all kinds of little things for each other - make the bed first, wipe the whiskers out of the sink, ... any little thing that we don't usually do and that we know the other likes. The secret part is at dinner: guessing what nice thing the other did for us that day. It never fails to amaze me the wonderful feelings that come from this - it's really cool when someone starts naming all of the nice things they think you did just for them during the day - and it makes you notice all the little things they did for you.
First Sunday in December (and each Sunday until Christmas) - we light the first candle on our Advent Wreath. We say a traditional Anglican prayer and also pick a favourite bit out of the bible so each person has a 'reading'. If we have someone else over for dinner on a Sunday, we warn them so they can have a reading ready. If they're of a different faith, they can read anything inspirational or important to them.
December 4th - In Belgium legend says that St. Nicholas comes to each house to check to see if each child has been good or bad. We talk about our successes and failures of the year at dinner ... usually threatening each other with nothing but coal in our stockings since we both know, we were bad!
December 6th - St. Nicholas Day. We leave a little package of sweet treats, nuts etc. (usually what didn't fit into the Advent Calendar pockets) for each other and little teasing notes of what our presents of each other will be. We make Shepherd's Pie and exchange IOU's for funny little things we know the other one likes
December 8th - Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Spanish) - we just have a nice meal together (with a Spanish theme) and try to have our house 'immaculate'. Good excuse to clean up a bit for Christmas.
December 13th - Festival of St. Lucia (Sweden) - I dress up in white with a red sash and a wreath of 7 candles on my head and serve coffee and sticky buns to my husband (and guests, if any). We've had friends come over when the 13th falls on the weekend and give this task to the youngest female present. It's fun and a great excuse to make homemade sticky buns.
December 22nd - Winter Solstice (also known as Saturnalia in Italy and St. Thomas day in Germany). We have dinner by candle light (as many as I have in the house). The longest night of the year has come and past so it's a celebration of the return of the sunshine. We haven't settled on a traditional meal (last year it was make-your-own-pizza). I make a nice German sweet bun called Thomasplitzchen. I make sure there's lots of hot chocolate, cider and Irish Cream and we decorate our Christmas tree. Have you ever tried decorating a tree by candlelight? It's alot of fun ... definitely NOT Martha Stewart results.
December 24th - We have dinner with dh's parents, go to a candlelight church service and exchange presents with them. When we come home we have rice pudding with one almond in it. Whoever gets the almond, will have great luck for the next year. I guess as we have more people in our family, this won't be so silly. The rice pudding with an almond is a Danish tradition.
December 25th - We exchange stockings only. This year with Ryan, we will do Santa. Not many presents for this day. We make breakfast together - a wierd feast of whatever we have available, served on our best china. If invited, we go to my father's house and have dinner with his new family. Othewise, we visit friends and have a hoot. Christmas night, we always drive around and look at the pretty lights and decorations. Secret Santa ends.