The Laboratory

For many families, this will be the weekend where the "tree in a box" comes out of the loft, gets dusted down, has its branches bent back into shape, and the decoration begins. For others, it's the trip to the Christmas Tree Farm so beloved by Hallmark Christmas movies (more on them later as well). But we are off to London because it's the weekend of the Scandi Christmas Fairs! But disaster has struck! The cinnamon bun machine at the Finnish Church in Rotherhithe has broken. At least their lovely star-shaped pastries and Fazer jellies are still available, plus reindeer stew. And then it's off to see Christmas trees! There are three we recommend this year (and every year). The tree from Norway is on its way to Trafalgar Square. It's been growing for 70 years in Nordmarka, the forests north of Oslo. BBC London News are tracking its travels, currently at the Port of Immingham: St Pancras Station always has a great tree, and this year it's all about books, a c...

Fazer jellies. Reindeer soup, Marianne. Doris. Moomins. Overwhelmingly indigestible liquorice.  There's only one place outside Finland where you can find all of these things at once, and we go every year. It's the London Finnish Church Christmas Fair. Food, drink, crafts, sausages on the grill, and all of the best Christmas treats. So good, they had to run it for two weekends, not one. Here are some of the cheery helpers and their wares. Kiitos!

Welcome to one and all! We hope you are enjoying your weekend and maybe, just maybe, you are putting up your tree and decorations today. As usual, we'd love to have your pictures, stories and jokes for the days ahead so do send them in. Today's picture is from Hilary. We've already done way too much Christmas food shopping, now that the mince pies in the shops won't have gone off by the middle of December. But we haven't done any Christmas baking. Hilary says "Here’s a picture of some upside down gingerbread men!" Update: Hilary is doing a new picture every day! So check her out on Twitter for loads of great Advent Calendar snaps:  https://twitter.com/hilaryosborne

Penultimate day, so here's a round-up of all the Advent Calendar material we never got round to on other days. First up, I for one welcome our new robot reindeer overlords: In other disturbing imagery, the Christmas tree at St Pancras this year was made up of the bodies of hundreds of stuffed animals: A picture of Sarah's first watch, which her dad brought back from America in the early 80s: And finally a Swedish sign that says (roughly) "All signs are prohibited except those signs which prohibit other signs" #logical:

Welcome to this year's Advent Calendar! We hope you have had a good year and are ready to celebrate with us, as we look at Christmas traditions and some of the more oddball ideas that people have had for the festive season. We'd love to know what Advent Calendar you and your family have at home this year. Sarah got Adam a Thorntons calendar, because it's all about the chocolate! Adam got Sarah a reindeer calendar from Tiger (a Danish store) and as a memento of our Finnish holiday, we have a Helsinki Museum street scene to open every day and find out about how the Finns have done Christmas through the ages. Tomorrow we'll feature some of the Advent Calendars our friends have bought. Why not tell us about yours in the comments?

Phil Vickery is the UK face of Aldi, the German discount supermarket. In his most recent Christmas advert (filmed in July) he plugs their 89p chocolate reindeer range (seen here converted to Australia dollars). I know the expensive Lindt chocolate reindeer are basically their Easter bunny model with extra antlers, but these Aldi ones are strangely similar. I hope Lindt don't sue!