I am doing my annual digital Advent calendar 24 Days of Making, Doing, and Being again this year, and now is the time to sign up.

This marks my fifth year of creating this calendar, which certainly feels worth celebrating. The format will be the same as usual: a daily email with a written post and artwork, as well as a few prompts, projects, and recipes scattered throughout.

I originally started this whole endeavor with the inspiration of the Advent calendar that I had growing up: a beautiful handwoven one made by by mother, each day made to hold a small slip of paper. My parents would write a new prompt on a slip every day, so that I would read it when I woke up in the morning. It was the source of a lot of magic for me in my younger years (and even now—it gets hung up every year to this day).

The goal with this Advent calendar is always to create a little magic every day during the month of December, so that’s it’s not just a countdown but an everyday celebration. It’s a focus on slowing down, finding balance and contentedness.

It originally began as an antidote to the consumer frenzy that tends to define this season, as a way to challenge people to make space for small moments of magic throughout the month. Writing the calendar last year in the midst of a dark winter defined by a global pandemic, I was reminded of how it was also an antidote for uncertainty, anxiety, loneliness, and weariness. It feels like we need a little bit of all of the above this year too.

I aim for this calendar to be a source of light, a source of joy, a source of thought. It’s a way to settle into the darker days, to get cozy, to slow down.

We need daily reminders to keep us present, to keep us breathing, to keep us existing, to keep us hoping. We need to remember the things for which we are grateful. We can all benefit from creating a little extra magic, both in our brighter moments and our darker ones. 

$5 will get you access to the entire digital Advent calendar. If you are a Patreon supporter of mine, you will get a subscription to the digital edition of the calendar for free. There is also a print edition of the calendar. I do this in a small print run, so if you want one be sure to snag one before they are sold out (buying one includes a subscription to the digital edition).

The daily email will include artwork, prompts, recipes, etc. all with the intention of inspiring presence, creativity, and gratitude, and you will be able to access the archives during the month too (because I know keeping up with a daily email can be difficult). 

Can you gift the calendar to someone else? Of course! Just be sure to include their email address when you order so that I know who to send it to.

I hope that you consider signing up.