Nativity Advent Calendar

Advent Calendar, 18" x 24", wool appliqué and embroidery. Designed by Linda Pietz and stitched by Nola A. Heidbreder, St. Louis, Missouri, 2015.

In taking on the delightful task of designing a wool appliqué piece, my mind immediately jumped to childhood memories of cardboard advent calendars with little windows to open each day from December 1 until Christmas. These cherished recollections provided the inspiration for my wool Advent calendar. But in this day of commercialization surrounding Christmas, my desire was to get back to what I believe the holiday is really all about.

Each year during the Christmas season, it is a joy to hear from family and friends through cards. The cards are a mix of the usual red and green that so dominates the season. Every now and then a card arrives with dark and light blue along with a smattering of white and silver. These cards almost always depict some portion of the nativity story. The cool and muted colors evoke a feeling of what it must have been like that first Christmas night, which inspired the colors for this piece.

So what is Advent anyway, and when did people start observing this season with Advent calendars?

This article is from the November/December 2015 issue. For more information on our issue, check out our issue page.