So I'm linking this for ideas more than anything. Here's the deal.

I have a small child. I have always thought advent calendars were rad. Growing up we had this paper thing with glitter falling off with little vacuuformed pockets with extremely fragile little beige animals. It was kind of cool. I mean, every day you open something awesome.

My mother-in-law blessed us with this thing. It's...

Well, for one thing it takes up a shit ton of room. Like four shoeboxes. Which for something that you use one month a year doesn't really strike my fancy.

For another thing it came missing four doors. So there's that.

For another thing, the little critters inside it are legit nightmare fuel. this X24:

(FWIW, macro on the Pixel ain't half bad)

So I'm kind of asking for what cool shit y'all have seen lately. I briefly toyed with the idea of something from Swarovski until I discovered those tacky little crystal animals cost like $300 each and shit (WTF).

I'd love an heirloomy sort of thing that doesn't take up a crapton of room but isn't full of The Island of Dr. Moreau. Anybody seen anything?