December Founder’s Letter: GC Advent Calendar
Happy December! As many of us do on December 1, my kids will open the first door of our advent calendar. Counting down the days until Christmas is a strong memory from my own childhood. My mom has a felt calendar from the 1960’s, a bare tree that gets a new ornament every day. It’s such a simple thing, but the delight in pulling out an ornament every day, marking the passing of time, the tree loading with decorations, still fills my heart with anticipation.
Advent calendars were invented in 19th century Germany, and have evolved over time. The early kind were paper cards with small doors that opened to reveal an image. Later versions included messages, prizes, or candies. These days, store-bought calendars have just about anything inside—from beauty products to booze. What’s behind the doors hardly matters, though, the point is to enjoy a daily ritual.
In these days where time has turned into a kind of soup, where Monday is only different from Friday based on the color of sweats you may be wearing, it seems it is the moment that we need festive Advent calendars more than ever. Something to look forward to, even a small treat, makes dark days and long weeks a little. shinier.
Our gift to you this holiday season is an Advent calendar of sorts. The GC team has whipped up a series of daily treats for you to enjoy. Our guides will share Christmas traditions, myths, personal stories, recipes, and holiday cheer from their home countries. These daily articles will be accompanied by live events over on GC Facebook. If you aren’t following us yet, be sure you do. We’ll have on -the-ground holiday reports from around the globe. Who knows, perhaps our guides will bump into Santa (or the Krampus) along the way.
If you’re looking to find a unique gift and support a small travel businesses this year, please consider the GC Christmas Market and Christmas Market Friends. We’ve put together fun handmade items, vouchers for travel consulting and virtual tours, and much more.
I wish you and yours the merriest of holiday seasons. It may not have been the year we asked for, but we can all agree that there is much to celebrate and be thankful for, even if that is just that we’ve made it to the end of 2020.
Buone Feste!
Sarah