Very few holiday customs create excitement for the season like the stoic Advent calendar does. While it's ultimately more than just small gifts, the Christmas countdown calendar is actually just a tiny daily ritual: a dose of seasonal joy that does wonders for the holiday spirit on wintry days of December.

It really doesn't matter if you had a cardboard window that opened up to a piece of chocolate as a child or you now purchase some extravagant luxury boxes; the Christmas calendar fills a universal human experience of excitement and anticipation. But why do we care so much about this countdown to Christmas in December?

The Anticipation Power of Ritual

The biggest draw of any Christmas calendar delight is the more or less defined anticipation of the big day. It serves as a psychological mechanism in anticipation.

1. The Age-Old Wait

Christmas is the granddaddy of delays of gratification. For children (and probably some adults!), waiting almost a month can seem like an eternity. The countdown calendar literally converts the deeply loooong wait to a period of simply waiting for 24 daily tiny gifts. The calendar is ultimately a visual and tactile mechanism to track progress and distills the enormity of December into smaller measurable steps.

2. The Daily Ritual

Holiday rituals instill comfort and meaning. Each day of the season begins with the act of opening a door or unwrapping a small something. This simple act begins establishes a moment of connection to the holiday. It is a predictable, cozy ritual that we can rely on to put some order in the chaos of holiday shopping and planning. This small, daily moment intervenes to make sure holiday traditions are incorpoated into the daily rhythm of life versus simply them for major events.

The Thrill of the Surprise (and the Memories)

The thrill of a surprise, no matter how small it is, is inherently enjoyable and connects to our earliest memories of the holiday.

3. The Joy of Unwrapping

This surprise doesn’t have to be something expensive to be effective. The joy comes from the unknown when you peek behind the paper or take the lid off the small box. This requires a micro-journey into the ideas exploring gift ideas that results in a delightful dopamine experience that resets the disposition for the day. Each piece of the calendar is a gift of sorts before the real gift at the end.

4. Family Connections with Nostalgia

For many, in particular, the Christmas calendar creates happy memories from when they were young. When adults buy or create an Advent calendar today, they are taking part in the same activity as their parents and grandparents did. This act of doing something year after year helps create a strong family connection that includes a narrative of family stories of magical experiences that has gone on for generations.

Modern Calendars: Trending and Community

While there remains a great deal of popularity for the traditional chocolate calendar, modern calendars have multiplied and evolved, making their meaning even richer today than ever before.

5. Make it Personal

Consumable calendars are available today for any interest and price point: beauty products, coffee beans, craft beer, candles, toys, or experiences (an actual daily title of a Christmas movie to watch or some good deed, etc.). The act of creating a personalized calendar makes it relevant to the person's life while providing the surprise of Advent.

6. Sharing and Connection

In our present time, opening a calendar experience is a social experience. Whether it be sharing a picture of a happy item from inside the calendar or talking about yesterday's calendar door, the tradition provides a low-risk, easy way to connect with family and friends during the holiday season.

The Christmas countdown calendar is a wonderful example of elegantly simple design; it inspires anticipation, delivers daily surprise, and connects us to the people and traditions that we cherish. The calendar reminds us that, at times, the greatest seasonal excitement isn’t in the big grand show but rather in the small, steady experiences along the way.

• Count down. Create. Celebrate.