Never Too Soon To Count Down . . . To Countdowns

We were at Costco this past weekend, and we realized that some Advent calendars were already on the shelves. Then I recently heard someone else noting that the cool Advent calendars were probably going to start showing up soon and then rapidly disappearing from Aldi's.

I know there are other fun holidays before we get to December, but it occurs to me that folks may want to be on the lookout for neat limited-edition Advent calendars that might be quick to go. (I stock my entire year's supply of interesting hot sauces by looking for entries from World Market.)

You might also consider looking into building your own daily holiday goodie sets. We've done this in our household as well; for example, my mother-in-law has received a "snack a day" kit in years past. For those whose minds turn toward games – which I suspect is a few of you here – I figured out how to do a search on Warehouse 23 for all physical items, cheapest first. Hmmm . . . I just realized that I can make an awesome "12 Days" calendar for The Fantasy Trip just with the items on the first page of results . . .

-- Steven Marsh