Lady’s Advent Calendar in London

I love a good Advent calendar in London or around the world. There’s nothing more exciting than cheap chocolate in plastic trays behind flimsy cardboard windows with tacky decorations on them.

Advent Calendar in London

When I was a child, my favorite part of the Christmas season was eating the 24 tangy chocolates with blurry imprints and an odd, lingering aftertaste.

One year I even got in trouble for raiding my brother’s calendar when (I thought) nobody was looking. I got coal in my stocking that year, but it was worth every second of chocolaty exhilaration.

Now that I’m (kind of) grown up, I still get excited when I see Advent calendars in London and in shops around the world. One year I surprised my mother with a giant marzipan advent calendar that I found in San Francisco.

This year she surprised me with a big red one with random pictures of fish bowls, playing cards, and top hats on it. I have no idea what any of those things has to do with Christmas, but that’s what makes Advent calendars so great.

Half the time they have nothing to do with the season. They’re just an elaborate excuse to add some extra fun and calories to the day.

Advent Calendar Event in London

Speaking of which, this year I had a special Advent calendar in London. The Andaz hotel in London was hosting a salon for its guests this week, and the theme was Advent.

For the festivities, an artist named Eyal Burstein designed a special table that was a creative take on the Advent calendar.

Thankfully Burstein had more taste than most Advent calendar designers, and his sunken tea sets from local markets made for a sweet surprise.

The other sweet surprise came in the form of a Cognac and chocolate tasting at the Advent table. Hennessy teamed up with the hotel’s pastry chef to offer a pairing of fine Cognac and chocolate.

The XO and 80% pairing was a far cry from the cheap, probably-cancer-causing chocolate of my childhood Advent calendars, and mingling with the others at the salon was a great way to spend an evening (just don’t tell the top hat).

London Advent Calendars

Back at my flat, I’m growing ever more sad at the prospect of Advent season ending.

The only silver lining is that due to my travels in Brazil and Austria, I missed a few days and have several extra Advent calendar chocolates to enjoy after the season is over (yes, the typewriter, the hot air balloon, and the rocking chair have yet to reveal what’s behind their bafflingly un-Christmassy exteriors).

After that, I’ll revert to my unexciting online calendar to count down the days until I can purchase my next Advent calendar in London.

Find this post helpful? Buy me a coffee!

New here? Join thousands of others and subscribe to the A Lady in London blog via email.