This year, I have felt as though I have been busier than ever. Sometimes when life gets busy, it becomes harder to find a little time to sit down and dedicate regular time to a project.

Just As I am now more likely to binge watch a television program via a streaming service, rather than a weekly viewing commitment, I have decided to take this approach with the LEGO City Advent Calendar this year.

Looking at the box, however, it seems to give us a great idea of what to expect as we open the windows: minifigures, vehicles and other snow based activities. In previous advent calendars, we sometimes see sequential builds develop into a larger structure, or to tell a story – for example, presents under the tree, while the family gather around the fire. Perhaps there are some hints to this as we look at the front cover of the box.

As I proceed with my binge building, I am curious to see whether the daily builds contribute to the build from the previous day, in one long narrative, or if we will see stories with parallel threads, waiting to be drawn together at the last minute? Let us start, by taking a look through door number one.

Day 1

We start the month off with a substantial build: a wedge plate, some small technic gears, actings as wheels; a red wedge plate. Add a click hind, and before you know it, we have constructed a snowplough. A good start, to the month.

Day 2

I was hoping on day 2 to find a driver for the plough. Unfortunately we don’t seem to have one. Yet. This model bears more than a passing resemblance to the old castle catapults of old, but with a snow themed colour scheme.

Day 3

On day three, we see our first minifigure. He looks pretty happy here! And so he should be: he is sporting a cosy hood, not seen outside of last year’s Arctic Explorer City Sets. For reasons that are currently a little unclear, he has a broom. How effective will that be in clearing the snow covered pathways?

Day 4

Day 4 sees the construction of a snow fort. With light trans blue elements. there is scope for defending yourself from the onslaught of snowballs being thrown from the catapult.

Day 5

An almost inevitable feature of the LEGO City advent calendars in recent years has been the presence of an open fire. The wood on these open fires doesn’t just grow on trees: it needs to be harvested too! Here we get an axe that was a new mould in 2019, appearing in LEGO City Fire Fighter sets. Oh the irony.

Day 6

We put together a Christmas tree here, as we do every year. This one seems to be of a novel design. The use of a sai at the top of the tree reminds us of the importance of putting our weapons aside, and seeking Peace at this time of the year. Unlike most of the other packages this year, a Christmas Tree would often belong inside. Perhaps we are developing another narrative stream? Hopefully it might be a little more coherent than the one we have seen developing outside…

Day 7

Here we have a young lad, eating a biscuit. He has a new torso print (unique to this calendar at this time) as well as a propellor on his cap – this was also a new element this year, and he comes with 2 spares. He is not really dressed for the cold, so I wonder what he might be doing inside? Sitting near the tree? If only there were some presents for hime to look at.

Day 8

But wait: here are some presents. Just they thing to put under our tree, for the young boy to look at, pick up and shake anxiously, everyday until Christ,as…

Day 9

Our next door reveals a Snowman. I guess we have gone out side. Is he about to be swept up? Catapulted at? Or snowploughed? I am not sure.

Day 10

And here we see the fate of the snowman, for now: to be photographed. The scarf element has not appeared nearly often enough for my liking over the years. Although, I would love to see it in another colour some time…

And so we seem to have several narrative threads gathering together: the Christmas tree/Presents and young boy tying together the ‘inside story.’

The full outside story looks a little less clear at this stage: we have a photographer and the snow man, catapult and fortress; the happy man with a broom, and a mini snow plough…

There we have it… days one to ten of the city advent calendar, in a quick and easy, binge worthy post. I’ll probably look at the next part of the calendar early next week. I wonder what that will bring us? Will the story come together? Why does he cary a broom? Where did the boy find his biscuit?

We may or may not find the answers to these questions in the next 2019 LEGO City Advent Calendar Binge…

Until then, Play Well.