24 Days of Making, Doing, and Being Digital Advent Calendar by Anna Brones

This will mark the sixth year of my digital Advent calendar, and it’s time to sign up.

I originally started this whole endeavor because I wanted to do something around the holidays that wasn’t focused solely on consumption, and I was inspired by the Advent calendar that my parents did for me growing up. It was a beautiful handwoven one made by my mother. She had made a pocket for each day, so that you could slip in a small piece of paper. My parents would write a new prompt every day and slip it in the night before. When I woke up in the morning the first thing I would do would be to go straight to the calendar and see what was written on the day’s note. 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).

My digital version is similar in nature. Every morning you receive an email with some kind of a prompt or reflection. Each day features some artwork, and there are often recipes, projects, poems, etc. The goal 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.

While it originally started as an antidote to the consumer frenzy that this season is often known for, over the last two years it has felt even deeper and more poignant than that. These last two years were largely defined by a global pandemic, and as we move forward with our lives, the ongoing impact of tour experience years is still with us. We are processing. In the midst of this, we need reminders of joy, reminders of light, reminders of gratitude. We need a little extra magic.

In the northern hemisphere we are moving towards winter, and this calendar pulls a lot of inspiration from seasonal rhythms. It’s the time of winter solstice, a time of finding light in the darkness, a time of moving at a different pace.

I hope that you consider joining me for the 2022 edition of 24 Days of Making, Doing, and Being. I hope that it will infuse a little celebration into your everyday, that it gives pause for reflection, and that it inspires creativity. I hope that it gives you permission to slow down, to breathe, to be present.

To receive the digital Advent calendar, you can sign up here. The daily email will include artwork, prompts, reflections, recipes, and more, all with the intention of inspiring presence, creativity, and gratitude. You will be able to access the archives during the month as well (because I know keeping up with a daily email can be difficult). 

Patreon supporters receive a free subscription to the digital Advent calendar. Want something more tangible? I also make an evergreen print Advent calendar that’s meant to be hung up year after year.