We got an Advent calendar from Balthazar's mother.

This is noteworthy because said calendar is not actually a calendar in the strictest definition of the word. It's comprised of individual stockings of various sizes made from bright red and green fabric. There are 24 stockings and inside each are two small wrapped gifts. So each day instead of opening a door on a calendar we pick a stocking, pull out two gifts, and open one each. It's incredibly cool.

The really interesting part is when the gifts are unwrapped. See, some are little laser pointers with different colored LEDs, some are gift cards for local stores, and some are lottery scratch cards. Nothing too out of the ordinary there. But some of the gifts turn out to be a bottle of Underberg (a German natural digestive aid) and three (so far) individually wrapped prunes.

Yep. Individually wrapped prunes.

The sheer randomness of the gifts makes it even more exciting every morning because not only might it be something cool, useful, or fun, it might be... a German digestive aid. Or a box of tacks. YOU JUST NEVER KNOW!

And ultimately, that's the spirit of Christmas. SURPRISE. "Surprise! There's a fat man in a red suit sliding down your chimney!" Or "Surprise! You're going to be the mother of the messiah!"