| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
29 |
30 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
Grand Prize Winner! Meg M. from Washington DC
Congratulations to Meg for winning the customized iPod Nano Grand Prize! Many thanks for the thousands of entries we’ve received over the course of Advent. We hope you’ve enjoyed following our “What Are You Waiting For?” calendar and that it has added some joy and mindfulness–as well as the inspiration to take action–during this holiday season. Our Advent Calendar might be done on Christmas day but the feature it grew out of–our Daily Jolt–continues, so make sure you stop by everyday for the Daily Jolt’s dose of inspiration, contemplation and microChallenges. And stayed tuned for our “FastPrayGive” Lenten Calendar that will begin once again on Ash Wednesday (February 17, 2010).
Merry Christmas!
Weekly winners:
Week 3 winner: Nick Peeters, Oshkosh, WI; a Bible stick (a “Faith Comes By Hearing” dedicated Bible MP3 player)
Week 2 winner: Josette Stegmair, Monrovia, CA; a Busted Halo logo hoodie
Week 1 winner: Sandy Hyacinthe, Miami, FL; BH coffee mug and hot chocolate
Derived from the Latin word, adventus (meaning “arrival”), the Advent season is set apart on the Christian calendar as a period of anticipation. The four weeks leading up to December 25 are intended as a period of preparation to celebrate, once again, the miraculous arrival of a vulnerable infant born to humble parents. It is a time for Christians to recall that God so loved the world that He became one of us.
The reality for most of us however is that Advent simply becomes the anxious weeks of shopping and holiday planning that precede Christmas Day. In the bustle of the holiday season, it is usually difficult to keep in mind what we are actually waiting for before Christmas. While many of us won’t be able to completely avoid the Christmas onslaught, it is still possible to maintain some connection to the spiritual foundation of the season. Our 2009 Advent Surprise Calendar is based on our popular Daily Jolt feature in which we offer readers a small bit of contemplation/inspiration and couple it with a “microChallenge” that encourages them to put these spiritual moments into action in their daily lives.
In traditional Advent Calendars, children open different calendar windows throughout the season to reveal special surprises. Busted Halo’s® Advent Calendar combines that sense of surprise with the opportunity for reflection and action found in our Daily Jolt feature the rest of the year.
Daily reflection, action and prizes
Each day of Advent, the calendar will open a new link to a chance at winning a great prize, an opportunity for reflection and a microChallenge. Like our Daily Jolt, the reflections chosen for the Advent Calendar come from some very unlikely sources, and the microChallenges help you to act on your spiritual inspiration in simple — usually very small — ways you’d probably never considered.
There are three different prize levels in this year’s Giveaway: daily, weekly (books, cds, dvds and gear), and a grand prize iPod Nano. Every day, readers will be given a clue describing the Weekly Prize. Readers can send in one guess each day. Each guess will enter them into the random drawings for that day’s prize and the iPod Nano grand prize. Each correct guess will enter them into that Friday’s random drawing for the Weekly Prize. If none of the entries in a given week have guessed the Weekly Prize correctly, the winner will be chosen from a random drawing of all that week’s entries.
Entries must be accompanied by both email and snail mail addresses (don’t worry, this info won’t be given out to anyone, it just makes it easier to track contestants and winners). The iPod Nano Grand Prize will be awarded on December 25 in a random drawing from all eligible entries received during Advent. (See contest rules here.)
All you need to be eligible is come back to our calendar each day, open that day’s new link and follow the instructions on how to enter in the drawing. It’s easy; you can enter as often as once a day (and up your chances of winning). Winners will be chosen within 24 hours and notified.
You can see a list of winners so far here.
Let’s recap…
We’re offering you the chance this Advent to take a break from the Christmas rush and spend a moment reflecting and acting every day on what the season is all about. And we’re even giving out some great prizes too. So make sure you visit the calendar often and tell your friends…
Come on, what are you waiting for?
