Hey, Lily! Hey, 9! Here we are, already on the twelfth day of (say it with me):
Advent Bowl! Advent Bowl! Advent Bowl!
For those who are late arrivals to this blog or only drop in occasionally, this is who we are and what we’re talking about. Lily is my inner fourteen-year-old. She speaks it italics. Inner nine-year-old 9 speaks in bold (I guess because she has less filters than the rest of us). I am me, and them, and speak in text without special effects.
Say hi, everybody!
Hi! Hello. Hi!
Advent Bowl is our own creation, dating from December 2019. It was my first holiday season as a widow and I figured it would be helpful to give myself a holiday/charitable/wellness/simple fun thing to do every day, that had to be completed in that day. It was intended as both an emotional anchoring mechanism and a means of learning how to participate in the winter holidays again after sharing twenty years with someone who hated Christmas.
It started with twenty-four slips of paper, each printed with a task, folded up and deposited in a family heirloom cut crystal vase. Every morning I’d light a candle, sing a hokey, rhyming Advent Bowl song* that ends with “What is it today, Advent Bowl?” then draw a slip and figure out how I’d get my assignment done.
The candle, song, and one day completion rule haven’t changed but over the years I’ve realized some tasks are not possible to complete in one day, especially if I haven’t purchased needed supplies in advance (example: “Make felt Christmas ornaments to match decorated sugar cookies for friends”).
For me, December is notorious for a schedule packed with social events, volunteer activities, and rehearsing/performing. Not to mention buying and mailing Christmas gifts. A year or two back I started loading Advent Bowl with six slips at a time, choosing easy tasks for busy weeks and more difficult ones when my calendar lightened up. The first six days of this December I was rehearsing and performing for a children’s ballet “Nutcracker” showcase. Accordingly, I chose easy stuff (presented in order of drawing):
Dec 1st: Charitable donation of choice (Blue Mountain Action Counsel, Food Bank designation https://www.bmacww.org/ )
Dec 2nd: Green teabag eyes (perfect for soothing away too much screen time and a head cold that hit me that afternoon)
Dec 3rd: Soothing bedtime drink (ditto on the head cold)
Dec 4th: Wear Homer Simpson Christmas socks (a big hit with the dance students!)
Dec 5th: Cinnamon roll from Wheatland Bakery (it weighed half a pound!)
Dec 6th: Bedtime foot massage (perfect after 3 dance performances in 2 days)
Charitable tasks, holiday-themed tasks, wellness tasks, all very easy to accomplish.
My favorite was the cinnamon roll!
9 is our resident Foodie. I factor her full-blown sweet tooth into the task list.
I preferred the green teabag eyes.
As a diva like you would, Lily. If you, like me, actively acknowledge your inner selves, it is important to make an Advent Bowl list that has something for everybody.
Days seven through 12 rolled out like this:
Cultural donation (Walla Walla’s own Washington Ballet Academy https://www.washingtonballetacademy.org/); Light show! (pictured below); Rice pudding for dinner (delicious, and it takes forever to make); Decorate something (also pictured below); Put a puzzle on the table (note: I did not specify that the table should be cleared or that I even have to open the puzzle box. . .yet); Two or more spa activities (that’s tonight- -soaking in bath salts? Sheet face mask? Green teabag eyes redux?).
Advent Bowl 2025: Light show, with Grandpa Dennie’s 1923 portrait holding up the string!
Advent Bowl 2025: The mysterious Santa candle that I’m pretty sure dad gave to Grandma Gretchen before we were born. Never burned but many times repaired! Decorating the fireplace hearth. . .
Also for today, dream up, type up, cut up and fold up six more Advent Bowl tasks for round three.
It’s a funny thing- -since the creation of Advent Bowl, my family has been giving me Advent-themed gifts for my November birthday. Everything from the traditional paper calendar to a chocolate calendar, a tiny pots of jam calendar, a three-dimensional cat village calendar, online digital Advent experiences, and Advent jigsaw puzzles. This year it’s Advent online in the Jacquie Lawson Christmas Village, and the interactive mystery book “Murder on the Yuletide Express”!
Advent Bowl 2025: What’s Christmas without a murder or two?
I love playing the playing games in the Christmas Village, especially the one about breaking ornaments!
I love hearing you mutter when you can’t figure out how to decode the murder mystery clues.
As an outer self, I’ve learned it’s good policy to keep the inner selves entertained.
The holiday season, with all its expectations and everyone’s anticipation, can be a very stressful time. If you need a break from all that in the next twelve days I encourage you to give Advent Bowl a try. Giving. Wellness. Festivity. Silly fun. What have you got to lose?
*For those who grew up in the Seattle area in the mid-20th century, the song is not unlike something from the children’s TV show “Wunda Wunda”. For more about the show and its star, Ruth Prins, go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wunda_Wunda
