Rin's 2025 Advent Calendar

❄ A little preamble...

I never thought that I would make something like this for my website before (at least, not for this year), but here we are... This advent calendar was hastily put together after I saw the one that Lapin made for her site + all of the other participating sites that she had linked, which you should also check out if you're curious. I was debating if I should even do this since I'm a little late to the party (I didn't create this page until the 7th of December) + I didn't think that I had anything to really write about, but after reading few a few other's submissions, I decided that this would be a fun excuse to write about anything winter/holiday-related, even if the topic itself is trivial. I'll try my best to update this calendar daily, but I can't make any promises!

Other advent calendars

- artwork and web resources

- artwork and media

- doll collection

- favorite sites

December 1st ❄ Antiques

I'm cheating a little since this shopping trip happened on Black Friday, but I wanted to include some more information that I left out of my blog. All of these images were taken in one antique shop with a few booths where people could sell their own secondhand and/or homemade things.

My great aunt and I were fascinated by the David Winter Cottages. The sight of these little festive buildings brought back memories that I haven't thought about in years! I kind of regret not buying one because my workplace recently set up a display table where anyone can donate their own items for a Christmas diorama, and one of these buildings would have been perfect for it...

When I was going through the booth from the last image attached, my aunt mentioned that she knew the person who owned it. She told me about an older lady who had done art restorations and mixed media projects decades before. I always imagine Renaissance-esque paintings when it comes to "art restoration", but this lady would take smaller, less loved pieces and turn them into things that were one of a kind. Her health had unexpectedly rapidly declined, and it wasn't until later when she found out that it was due to lead poisoning/exposure (likely from her custom glasswork), so she was hospitalized for awhile and had to stop creating art. The story made me really sad, but my great aunt reminded me that surely, she must have gotten back into it since we were standing in her booth. Later when we were checking our items out, my aunt recognized one of the ladies nearby as the artist that she told me about, so she started a conversation with her, and they seemed to have had a friendly exchange. My heart ached a little for her, and it still aches if I think too much about it. I'm just relieved that she seemed to have been able to overcome her hardships, and she would probably be on my mind if I ever found myself in such a situation.

December 2nd ❄ Snow Day

I didn't have work today because of all of the snow, which I was incredibly thankful for. I was having a very off-morning since this would have been the first day where I started my new shift (pushed to starting an hour early), but one of my coworkers texted me about the cancellation. I'm so relieved that she did because I later found out that I was never added to recieve work updates through my email...

I had a very lazy day for the most part, so I decided I would at least make up for it by shoveling the sidewalk and driveway for my family. Since I wasn't too cold, I stayed outside a little longer to play with my dogs and build my own little snowman. He's kind of ugly and didn't live for very long before getting trampled, but there was something riveting about making him... It's been years since I played outside in the winter like this, but the snow texture was so perfect that I didn't want to miss out on it.

December 3rd ❄ Hualian WIP

I made a small doodle in my sketchbook just before Thanksgiving, but I liked it so much that I wanted to turn it into a digital drawing and fix it up, especially after I found a couple of cute brushes online. Progress has been very slow, and I'm not super in love with how it looks so far, but I want to at least try finishing this before the end of the year...

How can I make this about the holidays... While I've been slowly getting through TGCF, I keep forgetting that the finale takes place during the winter + I've been coming across some official art of Xie Lian and Hua Cheng bundled up for the cold. I'm starting to think that winter might be my favorite when it comes to seasonal artwork for my favorite series. Maybe I could make a festive version of my drawing? Or maybe I could make another illustration of Hualian gumballs that I could use as dress-up dolls...

December 4th ❄ Christmas Ornaments

As I was leaving my workplace, I only barely noticed a group of people sitting in the lobby before a girl asked if I wanted to join them in painting Christmas ornaments. I was a little startled and declined with my reason being that I "had" to go, but when I left the building, I kept looking back every time I took a few steps... I got all the way down to the parking lot with this Feeling gnawing at me the entire time. My thought process was something along the lines of, "I want to get home before it gets dark, but maybe I should go back? But I'm already so close to my car and I feel like it would be weird if I walked in there again. But what am I going to do when I get home? Just watch TV? I could do that any other day..." I was stressing myself out until I thought that I'll just give myself 10 minutes to see if I would enjoy the experience, and that I should try getting a little more comfortable with uncomfortable scenarios.

I'm so happy that I decided to turn back around because I stayed afterwork for a little over an hour working on my Noelle ornament and socializing a tiny bit. They somehow didn't have white paint, so I plan on repainting her robes and doing other finishing touches on my own time. I heard a guy ask, "So how is yours turning out?" before I registered that he was right next to me, so I was bracing for an awkward conversation. But he was like, "Oh! That's really nice! ... Wait... Is that from Deltarune?" I got really shy, but I talked to him about what little I know about the game (I only saw gameplay of chapter 1 years ago), but it was pleasant chatting with him.

December 5th ❄ Magnet Crafts

Apologies for the image being a little low-quality. I made this magnet last year for a booth that my mom had set up in a local craftstore, and I couldn't find any other picture that I took of him. My mom has since moved out of that place and set up her own curbside booth, so I could just go down and take a new picture since no one bought him... I just can't be bothered... I thought about him and the other magnets/keychains that I made because the Noelle ornament made me miss crafting... Maybe I could make a cross-stitch or two before the year ends...

December 6th ❄ Spilled Ink

This channel is hosted by two artists that some people might already be familiar with, and I've been watching their videos ever since the channel launched. I've already been a fan of Emirichu for years, and her banters with Daidus make his pressence a little more enjoyable for me. I have a hard time getting into art-related content on YouTube, but a lot of their videos inspire me. Even if that inspiration is tiny and I don't really redirect it anywhere, it's just nice to feel my neurons activating. I loved how their illustrations in this video turned out, and their holiday stories were fun!

December 7th ❄ Christmas Tea

Somewhat inspired by my friend's strange tea combination that I read about earlier this morning, I spiced up my oolong tea. With spices. I used pumpkin spice in my first cup, but then I tried cinnamon with my second cup that I enjoyed a lot more. This mug is so cute, but it doesn't get used often since it's kind of small... The only other festive mug we have is a huge, red mug with "Joy to the World!" and snowflakes on it, but only the first word had peeled off from getting damaged in the dishwasher, so it says "to the World!" instead.

December 8th ❄ Lights Project!?

One of my relatives texted me out of the blue asking if I could help her with an art project. I was going to turn down the offer until I read her entire message, and it doesn't seem like it would be as hard as I thought since she only needed pixel art for a lights display that she had. I told her how I wasn't super confident in my abilities but could probably fulfil her request, and then I showed her my "portfolio". She told me that my artwork was "just was what she was looking for" and asked why I thought that my abilities weren't great. I never really do "art favors" for family because most of them assume "she draws cartoons = she can paint XYZ" when painting XYZ isn't part of my expertise at all, so I was worried that my relative wanted something wayyy out of my comfort zone. I also rarely show my family my art since I keep everything that I care about under wraps, so it's like they see my little doodles as artwork on the same level as anime industry stuff.

December 9th ❄ Prétear

I had the sudden desire to rewatch Prétear's opening for the first time in some months, and it's just as wonderful as I remembered. I watched the anime for the first time earlier this year (or maybe the end of last year), and I'm still surprised by how obscure it seems to be. I thought its popularity was similar to Princess Tutu's where the fanbase was small yet vocal, but the only discussions and fanworks I've seen of Prétear are from nearly a decade ago. What do people think of Himeno and Friends?? I need to know!

One of my favorite things about this opening PV is how it captures a lot of sensual feelings. The snow blizzard, the autumn leaves falling, the flower petals, the curtains blowing in the long stretch of stained-glass windows, the twinkling lights... And the vocals... The lyrics... "Holding your hand, I'll show you the snow of happiness falling all over the world"...

December 10th ❄ Hualian Fanwork

I came across this speedpaint while browsing festive-themed merchandise for this series, and waaah Xie Lian and Hua Cheng are so precious in this style... I want to make it a goal for myself to try creating illustrations like this next year, or at least experiment with my art more. I initially watched this with the video muted, so I didn't know that there was a voiceover. I'm not sure if the artist spoils anything in the story since I only listened to a bit of the intro, but I find it sweet how excited they seem about how the drawing turned out. I wish I wasn't so shy and awkward so that I could put together voiceover/rambling videos of my own... T.T

December 11th ❄ Gift Set

I spent some time last night helping my mom with her gift sets for her little business since she already has a lot of holiday orders. While I was putting some boxes together, I daydreamt about making my own cute products...

December 12th ❄ Wishlist

I told my family that I didn't have a Christmas wishlist because I couldn't come up with anything that I really wanted. The few things I might want, I'm too embarrassed to ask someone else to order and/or I could just pay for it with my own money. I'm also hesitant to purchase anything from series that I'm into since I'm trying to move away from merch collecting. However... I've been watching a lot more of Spilled Ink (mentioned in day 6) than ever before, and I have this overwhelming desire to create things. I have a couple of Michaels gift cards from last Christmas, so I added a few art supplies to my wishlist. I also want to buy a new journal because I finally filled out the one that I started in May 2023. It took me so long because I hated everything about the notebook that I used, but I told myself I couldn't buy a new one until it was completed. I added the LEUCHTTURM1917 B6+ to my collage, but then I found that it's sold out everywhere in the color that I wanted, so the search continues...

December 13th ❄ Christmas Shopping

I got a little holiday bonus for my paycheck, so I wanted to get some Christmas shopping done online. I figured out which journal I want to get, although I bought it in two different colors because I gave myself a headache when I was trying to pick... I came up with my gift ideas for my family on the spot because I didn't want anything to accidentally arrive after Christmas, but I'm happy with my selection. I really need to get around to working on my drawing for a Secret Santa event and letters for my penpals, but I've been so tired this week orz...

December 14th ❄ Projects

Saturday was an extremely unproductive day for me (I made the mistake of having an energy drink the night before), so I decided I would try working on a few projects on Sunday. I started my pixel art that I mentioned on day 8, I made a concept sketch for my Secret Santa, and I finished my Noelle ornament! Well. I still have to line the snowflakes on it, and I wish I could fix up her face more.

December 15th ❄ Christmas Movies

My mom asked me to pick out a Christmas movie for all of us to watch together soon, but I couldn't think of any. Well. I thought about Tokyo Godfathers, but I didn't even bother bringing it up because she's always hated anime. I watched Perfect Blue, Paprika, and Paranoia Agent sometime before Tokyo Godfathers, but this might be my favorite anime from Satoshi Kon. I didn't really "get" his works because I don't like the "this thing happened...... or did it?" gimmick, but I enjoyed that TGF had a different approach of "is this a coincidence or a miracle?" where characters are at the right place at the right time. I'm not really a movie person, and I'm definitely not a live-action movie person, and I don't have any other Christmas movies that I care about. But I might just pick the live-action Grinch adaptation just because it's fun.

December 16th ❄ Holiday Sentiments

I love the holidays, but winter has always been a bit of a struggle for my household. My mom was a little worried that I wouldn't have a great Christmas this year because I won't have many presents under the tree, but that's mostly because I didn't have a wishlist for this year (and can just buy things for myself). I just look forward to waking up early in the morning and seeing relatives and eating food and stuff!

December 17th ❄ Decluttering

My room has been a perpetual state of being cluttered... It's not that bad, but a corner of my room is occupied of boxes and bags of things that I need to sell/donate. One of my end-of-2025 goals is to clean up my room so that my Christmas gifts can have their own designated spots.

ETA: I put a bunch of art supplies in my cart on Michaels (craft/hobby store around here), but when I finished putting in my gift card information, I accidentally clicked "confirm purchase" and embarrasingly spent $40. >_>

December 18th ❄ Care Bears: The Nutcracker

I just remembered a Christmas movie, but I'm not sure how much my family would want to watch it... The Care Bears is a franchise that is very near and dear to my heart, though I probably don't think about it enough to warrant how much I love it. How do I explain it... While I have some beloved things that have been very persistent in my life, The Care Bears are like my guardian angels watching down on me...

I haven't seen this in years, but I still remember a handful of moments because of how many times I watched it. The wonderful thing about The Care Bears is that most of the older movies are uploaded to YouTube, so you could watch this one for the holidays.

December 19th ❄ An Eventful Snow Day

I only had a half shift at work today because of a power outage. I was a little surprised since it was only raining a little outside, but I don't know why I never check the weather... I cleaned my room a bit before leaving... By the time I arrived in the town that I work in, it had already snowed quite a bit, and by the time I left, it was like a blizzard! I had flashbacks to all of the times I had to drive to/from work during winter storms last year, and while I found it a little nostalgic at first, there was a point where I could barely see anything in front of me with the roads barely plowed, and it was kind of scary!

When I got home, I noticed a few packages covered in snow on the front porch, but they thankfully weren't damaged. I'm surprised that the art supplies I ordered (mentioned in day 17) arrived so quickly! I can't decide if I want to hide these or even wrap them up and gift them to myself for Christmas... I already started using my new journal because I couldn't help it. ^.^;

December 20th ❄ Bear Family

I finally put together an ornament set that I bought at one of the antique stores mentioned in Day 1. They were sold in a little plastic bag that was priced at $15, and only the top of the fireplace is a little scuffed. I initially thought that this set was a little smaller and that it was a little diorama ornament, but only the little bears could be displayed on a Christmas tree (if they weren't missing the thread). I probably wouldn't want to hang them up on the tree anyway because I don't want them to be accidentally knocked down and damaged, so I'll just keep them in my room as cute decoration. The fireplace even lights up, but the batteries inside it look older than me!

December 21st ❄ New TGCF Art + Secret Santa

This ended up being a TGCF-themed day (as if I don't think about the series enough already). I came across this latest TGCF illustration and omigosh... They're just too cute... The Hualian snowmen are so precious. I also recieved an early gift from my secret Santa, who drew Xie Lian for me! Not Christmas related, but I decided to ominously send my TGCF fanfiction draft to another webmistress... Or maybe this is just my holiday gift to the few TGCF mutuals that I have.

December 22nd ❄ Christmas Lights Update

I finished my Christmas project from day 8 and 14! It didn't take that long at all, I just kept pushing it off until today... My relative said that she would test it out on her projector tonight and then asked how much I should charge her, but I told her that she could just pay however much she wanted since I didn't mind doing a favor for her. Fingers crossed that I can now finish my Secret Santa art on time.

December 23rd ❄ Christmas Gift

My Christmas gift for my sister arrived just in time. We usually do our present opening on Christmas Eve, so I'm looking forward to finally giving everyone what I picked out for them. I finished wrapping everything up a few hours ago, and hum... I've never been good at wrapping presents...

I initially looked for a recreation of the Coraline doll from the movie, but then I came across a version of this figure with her raincoat, and then I found the star sweater version that I thought was super cute. I was worried about buying this secondhand, but I opted for it since she would have arrived after the holidays if I bought her new. I wouldn't have cared too much if she was a little scuffed and if I bought her for myself, but I would feel bad about gifting something damaged. I'm happy that she seems okay!

December 24th ❄ Christmas Eve Party

One of my cousins(? we're related somehow) hosted a party at his new house, and I had a great time. The house is old and huge, and it was so fascinating seeing how my relative chose to decorate the space. He had a TV hooked up to emulate some games, and my two close cousins were playing GoldenEye for a bit. There were a few relatives (mostly my uncles) that would walk past and reminisce about playing the game "back in the day". I've never played it myself, but I tried retaining information from speedrun/analysis videos I watched to help out my cousins, but then I told them that the Klobb is the best gun in the game (it's not).

After my cousins got bored, I tried picking out a different game, but the emulator(s) that my relative had were giving him a hard time. I played Mario 64 until I found out that the punch/grab button wasn't set to anything. My relative apologized for the troubles, but I could understand... This was one of my rare moments of chatting with someone in-person who shared my interests in emulation/older games/etc., so I probably talked his ear off...

I bonded a lot with my other close cousin since we have a lot in common (into art, play the piano, like anime), but I think this was the first time where we had so many topics to talk about. Sometimes, It's very rare, but I have this thing where I think of something, and then I have the realization that I've never had that thought before, and then I'm like, "wow..." I had this moment when he was talking about wanting to travel, and I blurted, "hey, we should go to Japan together someday!", and he seemed excited. My original Vision was to travel by myself or with a friend, but I should try being a little more realistic. My close cousins and their parents already have experience with traveling outside of the country, and they seem to have a genuine interest in going there someday, so maybe this could be a real thing a few years from now instead of being my crazy-ambitious dream.

December 25th ❄ Merry Christmas!

Merry (late) Christmas! I know the point of an advent calendar is to count down the days until Christmas Day, but I thought it'd be a waste if I didn't write about the last week of the month and New Year's.

I finished my Secret Santa gift just in time... I'm happy I at least had the sketch for it from a couple of weeks ago because I definitely put this off until a few days before it was due. Old habits die hard... It's been so long since I've done a "complete" illustration that I forgot how to shade and gave up on drawing folds for the skirt. orz

Christmas was so much fun! It was the same as every other year, but I helped my relatives with the cooking and I was a lot more involved with conversations. I accidentally left some money that I was gifted at their house, but I'll get it back eventually...

December 26th ❄ Bad Weather

We were supposed to go to my great aunt's for a Christmas gathering with a few relatives, but my dad and I decided to stay home since there was an ice storm warning. I was kind of sad about it, but it can't be helped! It is kind of lame how it seemed to snow for every day of December except on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and then it went back to snowing so much.

December 27th ❄ Gift for Myself...

Because I didn't have a wishlist, my family gave me a bit of money to use however I please. I already bought myself small things that I wanted, so I was probably going to save the money for more important things. I'm not sure if anyone else gets like this with specific hobbies, but I've had the mysterious desire over the years to try out a new instrument that comes and goes. I was close to buying an ocarina, kalimba, and melodica at certain points, and there are so many other instruments that would be fun to play. I've just been so obsessed with the guzheng for the past few days... I know where the interest comes from, but I wasn't expecting my passion for it to be this strong! I thought about it a lot, and I decided to buy a $200 finger training guzheng for me to try out. It won't be here for another month, but I'm so excited! I could ramble about why I picked the guzheng and my thought process of buying it, but I'll probably write about it somewhere else.

December 28th ❄ Cleaning Day

I helped my mom clean up the house a bit. Yay! I've been meaning to clean up my own room and go through my belongings, but the cramps... The cramps...... I feel defeated when I spend most of the day in bed, but maybe it's for the best..... I have so many things I need to donate/sell, I just haven't gotten around to it orz... I keep tidying around my boxes and bags of belongings, but I don't know how to go about doing a deep clean. Maybe my family could put up with me moving my stuff out into the hallway when I get around to doing a crazy deep clean, which I'd like to do around New Year's.

December 29th ❄ Power Outage

The power flickered a few times in the morning, and then it went out completely for most of the day. I actually didn't mind it until my room got soooo cold... We still had service, but I decided to finally finish reading all of the TGCF extras. And after that, I thought, "now I can have some phone time". But then I found out that the service was out! Just my luck! I'm thankful that the power came back later in the day, and I'm surprised it didn't go down again because the wind and snow was crazy.

December 30th ❄ Bad Weather Again

I sort of kind of planned to visit a friend on this day, but I got cold feet orz... The weather was too bad to drive in anyway, so I don't feel too bad. These past few days have been kind of lazy, and I know it's okay since I'm on break, but zzzzz. I rewatched a let's play of Home Safety Hotline and the holiday DLC. It's such a fun game...

December 31st ❄ New Year's Eve

Today has been unbelievably uneventful. Zzzzz... I don't have any plans for later tonight either... I might revisit my Animal Crossing GameCube town and do my New Year's countdown with my villagers...