Advent Naughtiness

Growing up in Germany, my parents always bought us advent calendars after Thanksgiving. These calendars have a little piece of chocolate behind a numbered door, and you open a door everyday in December to count down to Christmas. When we came back to the states we were still able to get these calendars from the commissary, but they were perhaps left over from the year before, as the state of the chocolate was usually questionable.

Last month my parents took a trip to Germany and brought back a real (and very fresh) advent calendar for Clayton. I meant to get it out on the first of the month, but I forgot. While Clayton was napping yesterday I remembered it, unwrapped it, and set it on the hearth, thinking I'd show it to him after dinner. Dinner came and went, and Ryan and I were still sitting at the table talking when I realized it was definitely too quiet in the living room.

Apparently it didn't take much for a two year old to realize there was chocolate in this new decoration. I walked into the living room, and Clayton immediately took something out of his mouth, shoved it into a door (#17) on the calendar, and dropped the calendar on the hearth. Then he looked up at me with a sneaky little grin, his cheek smudged with chocolate.

This is definitely not the first time advent "naughtiness" has occurred. I remember many Christmases when certain children in our family ended up with mysteriously missing chocolates toward the end of the month. I guess Clayton is just continuing in the tradition. For now, the calendar will be safely kept up on the kitchen counter.