Tough to believe that we're about a week and a half away from the 2008 Advent Calendar! Now, truth time: I know that not all of the site's core readers bother with the Advent Calendar. I'd say half of them do, at best. I hope that number will increase this year, but even if not, hey, it's pretty nice that even that many people count it among their holiday traditions. Plus, talking through Waiterbot really helps relieve my stress.
I don't know how to explain the Advent Calendar to those who've never read it. What started off simply has now grown so complicated that, frankly, even I have trouble remembering the continuity. The best way to understand the Advent Calendar is by reading it, so below are links to the first six editions. You need to read all of them to "get" it, but note that the real storyline-driven Advent Calendars didn't begin until 2004.
The Advent Calendar: 2003.
The Advent Calendar: 2004.
The Advent Calendar: 2005.
The Advent Calendar: 2006.
The Advent Calendar: 2007.
After spending so many holiday seasons with these characters, it's hard for me to picture Christmas without them. Every year, my only goal is to top the previous story. Considering that last year's Advent Calendar featured a human-sized rabbit and James Lipton turning his "hand cavities" into flame throwers, we're probably in for some fucked up shit this December.
Posted by Matt on 11/19/2008. E-mail me!
Chestnuts roasted by 
The Advent Calendar is not only my favourite thing on the site, it is also my favourite thing about Christmas. I should probably mention though, that in my part of the world, Christmas is so hot that people tend to do as little of anything as possible, so there’s not much in the way of competition. Anyway, looking forward to it.