Oh my goodness, yes! My advent calendar story is a sweet story of determination and triumph. Before we get into it, I recently turned 37, and no, I’m still not too old for an advent calendar! 
I did apply to review the recently listed Lovehoney advent calendar too but my guess is I wasn’t selected, unfortunate but it happens - we can’t be selected to review everything everytime. As great as they look though, buying one isn’t an expense we could justify, even if it would give us a whole plethora of new toys to enjoy!
So onto my advent calendar story:
I’m polyamorous, and back in 2021 I met a man, a Navy man. Long story short(ish) he wooed me into an online relationship, but he wanted to cheat on his wife with me and I said no, so we’d fall out (often with him abusing me), he’d feel bad and send me gifts (from my Amazon wishlist) to apologise, I’d reach out to thank him and we’d talk and try to patch things up, ad infinitum. The thing was, he was envious of my husband (he even tried to monopolise my time and “cowboy” me, essentially stealing me from my husband to have an exclusively monogamous relationship with him), so our relationship was nothing but arguments and headaches. He was insecure too: he had to be “top dog”, my husband’s comfort levels weren’t allowed to be a thing. Only I got to say “no” to him, and there’d likely be hell to pay if I did.
He was constantly teasing me too, and not in a gentle, affectionate way but a brutal, almost locker-room style banter. There was little affection, he believed in “tough love”: if my hair was a mess (as it often is, try keeping looking polished when you’re running a home!) he’d joke about that. If I looked stressed from too much news consumption, he’d say I looked like I just got back feom the battlefield myself. He was constantly trying to sext with me too; he didn’t care about me, he only cared about getting off.
So where does all this tie into advent calendars?
A few years later (we were on-off for two whole years, I know, crazy!) I made some from little advent jute bags with felt patches with painted on numbers, buttons and bows. I set myself a task to sew four every other day - 48 bags in total - but it often got postponed for other things, because life, so then I’d end up having to sew 8 or 12 in a night to make up for lost time. You’d think he’d be sympathetic? Nope, he’d mock me for not getting things done on time.
So in the end I rushed them, just so I could say they were done. I hated them though - they looked rushed, and they weren’t exactly made with love and care either, but anger and frustration. They weren’t happy memories.
Well, end of 2023 we were on our end days, and Christmas Eve 2023 he told me he’d met someone else and we should stop talking. You’d think I’d be upset? I celebrated. I played “Thankyou Very Much” from Scrooge over and over again, an ode to her, for taking him off of my hands. I dubbed our break-up “my best Christmas present ever” and I let off a confetti csnnon on New Year’s Eve with a loud “see you later alligator!”. Finally, he’d given me my freedom back.
After that Christmas though, I still hated our advent calendars - they reminded me of him and what he’d put me through. So I vowed to undo them and remake them, but I put the new, more patiently made designs on the back of the old bags, just like this new adventure was on the back of that relationship. They get filled every year with chocolates, alcohol miniatures, hair accessories (for me), mini perfume/aftershave samples, candles (also for me), festive socks… I even got hubby a fidget pen one year and he takes it to and from work everyday. He won’t leave it in the office though, just in case it gets stolen 
