Advent is, traditionally, a time of preparation and waiting. Advent calendars are instrumental in helping us keep time and count down to the day when the counting ends. Counting down to what, you might ask? Technically, it’s a Christian countdown that anticipates the birth of Christ on Christmas. But somewhere along the way, people started stuffing advent calendars with all kinds of goodies that exist mostly just to fill us with anticipation and give us small gifts, one day at a time.