Treating yourself to an Advent calendar as an adult, the ultimate Christmas treat?

• Thursday will be December 1, and many children will open the first box of their Advent calendar.

• But this pleasure linked to the month of Christmas is not reserved only for the youngest.

• For adults too, between the routine of work, the mental load and the logistics of everyday life and the holidays to be ensured, affording an Advent calendar can be a real pleasure, even the ultimate Christmas kif.

Less than a month.

That's the time left to prepare for the Christmas festivities.

To make purchases within a budget eroded by inflation.

To prepare yourself mentally to spend Christmas with the naughty uncle or the mother-in-law who has the art of giving you rotten gifts (even if it's the intention that counts).

To anticipate the logistics of the holidays, with an overheated mental load.

But also a month of gloom for those in whom Christmas revives feelings of loneliness or family estrangements.

So many things that, when you are an adult, begin the magic of Christmas.

So to rekindle the enthusiasm of his childhood, and if the ultimate kif, when one is grown up, was to afford an Advent calendar?

Many readers of

are convinced of this.

“I open my little package with childish pleasure”

Children's day par excellence, Christmas also makes the eyes of those who have kept their child's soul sparkle.

Like Brigitte, who treats herself to an Advent calendar “out of sheer indulgence, and my child side is delighted despite my 53 years!

“A state of mind shared by Raphaëlle who, at 52, “offers herself every year, with natural cosmetics, chocolates or sweets, according to my desires.

Every day I open my little package with childish delight, it puts me in a happy mood every morning, and it brightens up the dark month of December.”

For Jeanne, 35, “the Advent calendar is even an obligation!

I've always been buying it.

It's my holiday treat.

Even at 20, a student and broke, I bought myself a cheap one with chocolates.

They weren't very good, but the goal was the joy of opening his hut and counting down to Christmas.

Since I've been earning my living, I've paid a little extra, between 80 and 100 euros, for a model with beauty products.

It's not money well invested, but when I come home in the evening and open my little box, it makes me smile, even at 4 euros each, laughs the young woman.

The hardest thing is not to open everything at once!

»

“They are right!

With an Advent calendar, we create anticipation and pleasure, analyzes Florence Servan-Schreiber, specialist in positive psychology and author of the book

(ed. Marabout).

We know that every day, a surprise awaits us behind the window to be opened.

This meets a need, bringing a touch of magic and lightness, and a dose of dopamine.

In short, a kif”.

"To have a beautiful one, we offer ourselves cheaper Christmas gifts"

A contagious love.

At Lydie, 38, the Advent calendar “is not just for our children.

For the past two years, I've been buying one for myself, and for my husband too, each his own, with chocolates, skincare or stationery according to my wishes”.

On the budget side, the mother assumes to have fun: “I put between 55 and 65 euros for mine, for quality cosmetics.

After all, it's only once a year.

And we all love it so much that, so that everyone has a beautiful one, we offer cheaper gifts at Christmas.

It immerses us in the Christmas spirit from December 1st, it gives us joy and well-being.

I love opening my little box every day, it's my little happiness when I wake up!

»

For Florence Servan-Schreiber, “we leave the classic scheme where we will receive a big Christmas present, which will provide immediate, but fleeting, satisfaction.

There, it's not all of a sudden, but a little every day, a pleasure that lasts.

This is something that can be found in other cultures, where, on the occasion of certain holidays, gifts are given to each other over several days.

And there is something of the order of the ritual in opening a hut every day, often at the same time, it is comforting”.

"We need that, it's not always easy to have a good time at Christmas"

A pleasure that we therefore make last, and which, for twenty-four days, offers a little sweetness in a period that sometimes no longer has much magic.

“Why would it be reserved for the little ones?

“, asks then Lilou who, at 54, offers “an Advent calendar for two years, always chocolates, but not expensive, I am not yet ready to put more than 10 euros.

I also give it to my friends and neighbors whom I appreciate, who love it!

It's regressive but we need that, because with blended and broken families and everything that goes with it, it's not always easy to have a good time at Christmas.

An approach that “offers an alternative, where there is not only the sacrosanct moment of Christmas Eve with the family, analyzes Florence Servan-Schreiber.

We are in the period, in the concept, but without the emotional heaviness of family estrangements or loneliness.

When Christmas is difficult, the Advent calendar re-enchants the period a little”.

"I'm making one for my wife, it's a Proust madeleine"

But for Julie, 38, “the Advent calendar was for children.

Until my husband gave me one six years ago, and I loved it.

Since then, I have received one and every year, I am surprised and touched.

At first a classic calendar with children's chocolates, then I had some with tea, candles.

And I'm like a child who waits every morning to open her hutch.

I can't wait to see what my surprise will be this year!

»

Like Julie's husband, Romain, 31, gives his wife a calendar every year.

“I made one for him, filling in the boxes as the year went on, according to ideas and desires.

I got myself one too, with coffee, for about forty euros.

But for his, there is no quantified budget, he must probably exceed 300 euros.

It's a Proust madeleine, which allows you to forget the worries of the day”.

"They must have had a blast thinking about what they were going to put in, selecting each little gift with love," said the positive psychology specialist.

It is undoubtedly themselves who are the most excited to see the other discover their surprise.

It makes them a magical person in a way.”

"Why wouldn't I have one too?"

»

But most often, it is mums, queens of the mental load and magical Christmas elves, who offer an Advent calendar.

Like Sophie, 50: “I make one for my children and my husband.

From September, I fill it with small useful objects: balls, tights, books, all topped off with chocolates.

I've been doing it for them for over fifteen years.

And three years ago, I said to myself: "why shouldn't I have one too?"

Now I give myself one from the trade, usually related to one of my hobbies.

This is my reward.

On the one hand, I have the pleasure of pleasing my family, and on the other, I too have my calendar, thanks to which I share with them the joy of discovery”.

“In studies conducted on the science of happiness, the pleasure experienced in giving is much greater than that of receiving, deciphers Florence Servan-Schreiber.

And these perfectionist "magical moms", who manage everything, throughout the year, who take care of the gifts and the Advent calendars, they really like to give, probably more than to receive.

But with a mental load as big as a mountain, we can understand that at some point, they too want to have their share of pleasure.

So, if no one in the household thinks of it, they offer it themselves.

And it's very healthy!

They are fairies who grant themselves a little magic!

»

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