> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://dianaludwick.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Advent
- URL: https://dianaludwick.com/advent/
- Published: 2026-01-05T16:04:31.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T20:13:00.000Z
- Description: A reflection on the gifts of Christmas. Poem 005 in a series of 365 poem written in 2026 by Diana Ludwick.
- Author: Diana Ludwick
- Tags: 2026 Poetry Challenge, Poems, #Migrated-1792872215677, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-10-24 20:03

He gifted me a perpetual Advent calendar  
Sturdy wooden structure  
Endlessly reusable.  
  
Snow, bells, bows and gingerbread.  
Cheery, hand-painted holiday scenes  
Bedeck each daily box  
That serve to celebrate  
The season of anticipation.  
  
Surely, infinite premade calendars exist.  
But he could not entrust any  
To produce the results  
He envisioned.  
  
So he compiled his own.  
  
He had procured  
At great expense, I surmise   
Twenty four  
Precious Bon bons   
Cubes and batons of  
Luxury confections  
From my favorite artisan chocolatier in the world —  
Venchi.  
  
He had stood  
In front of three walls  
Each displaying a counter to ceiling grid  
Of lucite containers.  
  
At each transparent vessel  
He had paused, read the label  
Digested the description, and assessed.  
Again and again, he contemplated.  
  
As he proceeded, he had  
Tenderly and precisely selected  
Each foil wrapped  
Celebration  
To tuck inside each  
Awaiting Advent cavity.  
  
I do wonder  
How long it took him  
To discern  
Which twenty four treats  
he should bring home  
From the more than two hundred fifty varieties  
At his fingertips.  
  
All month, I marveled at   
The pleasing friction  
As I dragged open  
Each day’s drawer,   
Heavy with splendor  
To reveal the next  
Italian truffle.  
  
By December 6, though,  
I already realized  
That even one delight a day  
Was too rich;  
I could not keep pace.  
  
So while I opened each day  
Like clockwork,  
And reveled in each new surprise,  
I have rationed my bounty.  
  
Which is why  
On this sub-freezing dawn  
In early January  
I am here  
With a Cuban coffee in one hand  
And a Chocoviar in another.  
  
A Christmas miracle  
My joy has outlasted  
The confines of a month.  
  
I am riding  
Through the flavor journey  
Of sumptuous Piedmont pistachios  
And crackly deep, dark chocolate shell  
And crunchy creamy orbs.  
  
As the cocoa fat and salty sweet creme  
Slick and heady  
Coat my teeth,  
Melt on my tongue and  
Drip down my throat,  
I reflect on my true gift.  
  
His love for me  
Like my refillable calendar  
Is perpetual.