Reversing Advent

You can’t have failed to notice the increasingly elaborate range of advent calendars on offer recently. Plastic toys, wine, beer, cheese, candles, cosmetics – I even saw one that promised 24 days of beard treats!

I still remember the taste of the chocolates from my childhood advent calendars – it had a slightly weird un-meltable texture but was somehow magical as allowed before breakfast. Surprisingly(!) I’m even old enough to remember the calendars that only had a picture behind each window.

These treats I’ve always taken for granted, but what about the people in our society who struggle to buy essential food over the Christmas period, never mind such expensive luxuries?

This year the SASW team are each producing a reverse advent calendar – this starts as an empty box, then an item of toiletries or food is added by us each day, until at least 24 items are in the box. Once full, we will each take our box to a local food bank. The video you saw on social media created by Alison shows one that is currently underway. 

This might be something you and your colleagues or family might like to do next Christmas – or at any time of year. It makes little impact on the weekly shop but will make a big difference to people who are struggling to feed their families – 2020 has been difficult for so many. Get your friends involved, tell people that you are doing this, spread the idea on social media – I told my Mum and she handed me some basics like tea bags, tinned fruit and delicious biscuits to add to mine. I think we’ll all need a hand getting our boxes to the food bank at the end of advent!