My favorite Christmas memories revolve around our advent calendar.  Every night after dinner, we would take turns picking the advent for the day.  My mom made our advent super special because instead of getting a piece of chocolate, each advent had a slip of paper with a special activity or surprise on it.

When I was only 7 or 8, I remember that my advent was that I was going to get a surprise the next day.  During school, when I came back to my classroom after lunch, there was a paper grocery bag filled with TWO big bags of Cool Ranch Doritos (my favorite).  I remember feeling so special and wondering how my mom had managed to get them on my desk!

Another year, after a very difficult move, one of the surprises was my mom checked out me and my best friend, Han Shi, from school to go to lunch.  My mom had secretly called Han Shi’s mother (who didn’t speak English, so I imagine that was an interesting conversation) and got her permission.  That memory is absolutely burned into my memory since I was was bullied a lot those first few years after our move and that little outing was a huge bright spot in an otherwise terrible school experience. Read More →