In our family, we love Advent Calendars. We exchange them in late November and starting on December 1, we open of the little cardboard doors revealing a surprise leading to December 25 and Christmas.

The first Advent Calendar was handmade in 1851 by Protestants in Germany. Before this, families had marked the front door with chalk, or lit a candle on a table one for each day in December leading to the big festival. Some put up small pictures on the wall depicting scenes of the Cresh.

A bookstore in Hamburg published a Christmas Clock in 1902. In 1904 the newspaper Neues Tagblatt Stuttgart inserted an Advent Calendar as a gift to its readers. By 1922 a large printing firm in St. Johannis turned out thousands to be sold throughout Germany. They were popular until World War II, when paper shortages curtailed their distribution.

After the war, Richard Selmer began producing them in 1946. He credits President Eisenhower with introducing the tradition in the United States. A newspaper at the time showed the President’s grandchildren with The Little Town Advent Calendar.

From that time to today, more and more of these pleasant ways of counting down the days are found in American homes. Some are quite elaborate, with compartments that hold candy or small toys, or play songs when the doors are opened.

The Advent Calendar shows that the season has begun. Be of good cheer.