Advent calendars are a fun way to keep track of the time while waking up with some swag. Ben Hewins of London wanted to raise the stakes from a daily chocolate Santa to a full on gift with a cabinet straight outta The Price is Right.
"She is quite creative and is always making me cool things so I wanted to do something for her this year that was a bit quirky, creative and original," Hewins tells Metro.co.uk,"So, I came up with a giant advent calendar with actual presents behind every window."
Hewins told Metro that his wife was first to come up with the personal, DIY advent:
A few years ago for Christmas, my wife left a present for me everyday during December in one of my drawers with a heart-shaped note that read “on the xx day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…a new pair of earphones for your gym tunes.
That's hard to top, but Hewins found a way, picking up "cheap off cuts" frm his local hardware store, and then just "[winging] it from stage to stage.
How did Mrs. Hewins react? "She got quite emotional and was very overwhelmed," he said.
The couple have an adorable history of romantic gestures.
The last time I got that reception was when we were dating and I wrote a poem for her which I then got printed on a T-shirt. I presented it to her in our local Pizza Hut and she cried her eyes out and made all the other customers very uncomfortable as they tucked into their stuffed crusts.
It's all so sweet, until you remember that now Christmas Day has to live up to the countdown.
Or is Christmas a journey, not a destination?
Thank you, Mr. Hewins, for teaching us the real meaning of Christmas.