Final Countdown

Finally, for our last day before Christmas, the history of Advent Calendars.

     As early as the 1800s there are records of German Protestants counting down the days to Christmas by marking doors or lighting candles to count the passage of days. Later, homemade wooden calendars would be made including those in a Nativity motif.

     Gerhard Lang would offer the first commercial Advent calendar in the early part of the 20th century. It was based on a tradition his German mother passed down to him with 24 boxes that opened to reveal pictures. Other versions would feature Bible verses.

     Advent calendars would lose popularity during World War II due to paper rationing. They would come back in the public eye when President Dwight D. Eisenhower was pictured with his grandchildren holding one.

      Placing chocolates behind the countdown doors became the norm sometime later, though when exactly is open for debate.

      Now Advent calendars are conduits to Christmas containing everything from sweets to any number of prizes from our favorite franchises as evidenced here with a Funko variety.