Advent Calendar: Other Traditions

When I first moved to Arizona, I had no family here.  I arrived in September and it was my first Holiday away from close friends and family.  I had been away from family and friends when I was on my Mission but there you are so busy doing the Lord's work you don't have a lot of time to miss home.  You do miss home but you don't have time to worry about it.  Oh you know what I mean.  Anyway back to my first Christmas in Arizona.  I had a lot of time to miss home.  So I decided to do something fun to cheer myself  and others up. 

I decided to do the 12 Days of Christmas.  I did my immediate co-workers and a couple of families from church I felt needed a little something extra.  I keep it simple or what I thought was simple but it did required a lot of thought. 

I made up little sayings up for each day and gave them something that fit the day in the song.  I am sure I don't remember all things I did and I might even have it typed out someplace in my file cabinet but I am not going to look for it now.

I put everything in a lunch size brown paper bag and use calligraphy to put their name on. 

The first day of Christmas for a Partridge in a Pear tree I gave them a pear.

Two turtle doves I gave two turtle candies.

Five gold rings I gave butterscotch life savers.

Eight Maids a milking a box of milk duds

Some of the things I gave where No Bake Cookies, Christmas hand towel, I forget what else.  I did this from 1984 when I first moved to Arizona until maybe 1993 or 94.  I know I did it a couple of years with the kids but they didn't really like getting up early in the morning to deliver packages.  I remember one years I was so sick and I had a fever, but I still delivered my packages.

One year when I was up early it had snowed out in Apache Junction and the cars coming into Mesa had snow on them. 

Sometimes people figured it out, some times I told them if they were friends, most of the time they never knew.  But it was fun.