Tomorrow is the first day of Advent. For the uninitiated, Advent is celebrated in Western churches to mark the coming of Christ, and it begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas.

In churches I have attended, the first Sunday of Advent involved lighting the advent wreath (which has four candles for each of the Sundays of Advent and one in the middle for Christmas itself) and singing the first Christmas carols of the year. For most people in the congregation, I think this was the extent of their first of Advent celebration. But for our family, the real fun started as soon as we pulled out of the church parking lot (which could take awhile, depending on how talkative my mother was that day).

The first step was stopping on the way home from church to pick up our Advent treats. My mother’s side of the family is German, so…