My Grandmother's Advent Calendar

I grew up with this. In my memory we always had it and every late November we would start to pester mum about buying some sweets so it would be ready to put up on the 1st of December. To me it is as synonymous with Christmas as turkey and ham.

It was made by my grandmother from a cross stitch kit I believe she bought whilst on holiday in Scandinavia. It has seen a lot of Christmases and when on display has had a lot of little hands touching and marveling at its stitches and treats, counting the days till Christmas. I adore this calendar because it has so many happy memories and because my grandmother made it. I can remember the different houses and different places it hung in, the intricate schedules made up with my siblings about who would take the sweetie bags off each day, how some years we ate the sweets after dinner and some years we ate them in the morning, some days we would put in extra sweets because friends were coming to stay.

Now it is my children who get to marvel at this beautiful piece of work and touch the sweetie bags, counting the days till Christmas. I feel so lucky to have this piece of family heritage

I don't know if you can see from the photos - but there are a couple of rings that need re-stitching, the fabric has been stretched in places where it has been laden with sweets! So I am about to embark on repairing this embroidery piece. To be honest I am very nervous - I don't want to damage it in any way and I don't want to change anything about it. I need to google some information about caring and repairing embroidery pieces (any tips appreciated) But hopefully come December it will be ready and refreshed - I hope to show you a photo then.