Christmas Tradition

In my family at the start of December, we all get advent calendars that countdown to New Years. I myself usually get star wars themed one, my older sister usually frozen, and my little brother a superhero themed. After we eat dinner we would get a little chocolate surprise. Each chocolate square has a symbol on it that relates to the theme of your advent calendar. It's not very expensive chocolate but it gets the job done. My Dad started to do this tradition as a kid, “As a kid, me and my brother would have them every year. We didn’t have much as a kid so this meant a lot to us. I thought it would be special if I kept it in the family”(Logan). My Dad and my family have done this for many years, and it has always got me and my family in the holiday spirit.

Advent calendars were created by a German by the name of Gerhard Lang. He created the first printed version even though they were considered to be created by German Protestants in the mid 19th century. The Germans would mark a line of chalk until Christmas Eve. Lang created the print ones around the same time newspapers would print little gifts for the readers. His inspiration came from his mother, she would place 24 colored pictures attached to a piece of cardboard to count down till Christmas. But Lang got the idea to make doors on his to make a surprise that alludes to Christmas. But advent calendars stopped production during Hitler’s campaign throughout 1939 to 1945 because of the cardboard shortage, but they picked up its popularity soon after. Lang’s original “Munich Christmas Calendars”, what they were originally name, had no chocolate or little gifts, only little pictures that represented something to do with Christmas or the religion behind the special holiday.

In conclusion many Christmas Calendars today have chocolate, pictures or a little gift. They do now compare to the early versions of the calendar. Counting down the days till Christmas is always a good way to get yourself into the holiday spirit.

Works Cited

Logan, David. Interview. 28 Oct. 2017.

Mental Floss. 2007, mentalfloss.com/article/26522/brief-history-advent-calendars.

Traditional Advent Calendars. sellmer-verlag.de/history.htm.

My sport Hockey

Hockey is a big part of my family and a tradition of playing and watching hockey was started by my grandparents who started this tradition by watching NHL (national hockey league) games all their lives, their children my mother and uncle both grew up watching and playing hockey and they both played high levels of hockey, my uncle played triple hockey all his life till he quite, and my mother played high level girl hockey and was the one who got me to being a goalie.

I was first introduced to hockey at the age of five were I first played timbit hockey and from there I fell in love with the game hockey, I started playing rep hockey my third year of playing, I became a goalie part way through that season as my team was in need of one and I stepped up during practice and after having my mom make sure I really wanted to be a goalie by shooting pucks off my head and asking after each shot “are you sure you want to be a goalie”my answer each time was “of course I do” . My love for hockey was passed down to each of my two brothers and both of my cousins who all play hockey in Orangeville and all love the game just as much as everyone else in my family does.

My family’s love for hockey does not come from just playing hockey we also love to watch hockey no matter what league it is whether it is: OHL (ontario hockey league), WHL (western hockey league) QMJHL (quebec major junior hockey league), NHL  (national hockey league), or any of the many european hockey leagues (that’s not italian or british because those leagues are horrible). But my family mainly watches the NHL and we all have our own team that we each like, we have long arguments that are friendly about team is better.

NHL Teams

This is why hockey is important to my family because gives us something to argue about (in a friendly manner) and it gives us the chance to play the a sport that means so much to each of us.   

Works Cited

FitzGibbon, Erin. Interview. 29 Oct. 2017.

Hockey faceoff. Bithockey.com, btihockey.com/the-problem-with-face-off-percentage/. Accessed 31 Oct. 2017.

NHL teams. NHL.com, www.nhl.com/news/nhl-team-nickname-origins-explained/c-283976168. Accessed 31 Oct. 2017.