12 days of Christmas... jam edition

What are your thoughts on the Advent Calendar? I've mentioned I'm Catholic but I can tell you that it was never a tradition. Any traditions around Christmas time in the Philippines would revolve more around "Simbang Gabi" which is basically a set of pre-dawn/dawn/late night masses everyday for 9 days in the run up to Christmas. It would start on December 16 and the last one would be the Christmas Eve mass. It serves as a novena and what I remember from when I was young was that if you completed all nine, that thing that you'd been praying for is usually granted.

In the last few years, I've noticed advent calendar iterations from food to makeup being sold, well, everywhere in the United States and online. I used to get Lego ones for my kids until they outgrew them. I think I got a L'Occitane one a decade ago. I remember kind of feeling like some of the days it was really just filler material. Oooh, a bag of glitter stars. Like, what does that have to do with anything? And, a cookie cutter! From L'Occitane. Ok. Last year I discovered that my favorite Bonne Maman jam had these boxed sets with a variety of flavors I'd never seen before. I got one from Costco and wanted to go back for more but they were out. I ended up ordering, a different, smaller variety from Target online and that also disappeared. This year, as soon as I saw it at Costco, I got one. 

I don't really care about the concept of opening one each day before Christmas. I just like the little jars and I like that you can sample different flavors. The little jars themselves, I remember first seeing them at a Maggiano's Breakfast with Santa. It was an absolutely horrid event that I took my then 8 year old to. The package included breakfast (nothing to write home about), crafts and you get souvenir photos with Santa. This was the worst part because clearly they couldn't be bothered to cast a proper Santa or they got cancelled on because this poor young man that they stuffed in the Santa suit was in no way the right person for the job. I wish I could show you the pictures as proof but I don't know where they are. The highlight for me was seeing these tiny jars of Bonne Maman strawberry preserves. I took two jars home because why not? Imagine my sheer delight when I saw that I could buy a whole box of them and I served them at home at Christmas because it really is Christmas when we have some delicious, freshly-warmed bread (like a rustic Italian or a simple French baguette) and a smorgasboard of things to put in/on the bread. And then we can make up songs about our love of bread. True story and now... a tradition. 

This year's iteration comes individually boxed, to be opened like a gift so it will be very cute on the table. I should have checked if they still had them and bought another but I am holding out for a different variety that has the muscat grape flavor as this new one from Costco sadly only has apricot, cherry, fig, raspberry, strawberry and wild blueberry preserves, then one jar of orange marmalade, hazelnut chocolate spread and honey. You can buy the large jars in a three-pack and the "special" flavor is guava but it seems that only my husband and I eat it so it takes awhile for us to go through the jar, even when I make fresh biscuits more often. 

I wish Cheez Whiz would make teeny jars and sell them here. I would buy that. It reminds me of my years as a traffic reporter when on occasion I would do the morning shift and my boss would always bring a bag of pan de sal and a small jar of Cheez Whiz from the nearest bakery to the office. When I moved to another station and got the morning show, on special occasions I tried to get out to the bakery early enough and do the same. I suppose if I could replicate the bread at home, it would make a great addition to the Christmas spread. I think they've reformulated Cheez Whiz though. Sometimes it's also kind of hard to find. I may have to settle for Laughing Cow or Boursin and it's just not the same. 

Playlist Recommendation: No Such Thing, John Mayer