Advent Calendar 2014: The cultural countdown to Christmas

Our own take on the traditional advent calendar continues – with a daily dose of cultural goodness.

A month or so ago, when the winter evenings began drawing in, the Creative Tourist team had an idea. Gathered around the fire (conference table), cupping warm mugs of mulled wine (coffee), we decided that we needed a way to brighten the dark days of December. Advent is great for kids, we agreed – you get to watch videos in class, eat chocolate every morning and count down the sleeps until Christmas. For adults, not so much: it’s more cold, early starts, heaving streets and the frantic scramble to get presents for everyone from Great Aunt Mollie to your mother-in-law’s elderly dog.

Well, not any more. Follow the brand new, shiny red bauble on the homepage and you’ll find our very first Advent Calendar: in 25 boxes, opening at 9am every morning, are hidden all sorts of cultural goodies. We’ve stuffed every single day up to Christmas with shopping tip-offs, theatre, art, music and new, foodie recommendations. We’ll be tweeting about them, too, so that no one misses out – use #CulturalCountdown to spread the word, and to tell us the things you’re looking forward to in December, too. Mince pies, the smell of fir trees and a really long lie-in – whatever comes to mind (though keep it clean, guys).

We hope that our advent calendar will spread some cultural love this winter. It’s our way of treating our wonderful readers. Merry Christmas, everyone.