Advent Calendar Day 1 #TeresaFMorgan

Behind door number 1 is me!

I thought I would get this show on the road, and introduce you to my advent calendar blog posts.

Each day there will be something different behind the 'door' - just like opening your advent calendar.

It could be a different author sharing a Christmas story or tradition, or even a recipe. It will allow them to also share details of their book - Christmassy or not! Or different Christmassy discussions.

Hopefully there will be some eye candy behind a door or two for you, too :)

Today is the first day on our advent calendars.

Do you have a chocolate calendar or one that comes out every year?

I have a cloth one that has pockets which I fill. Each year this advent calendar comes out, and I have to find small chocolates to put into the pockets, as I need to squeeze two in there for the boys.

This year I've bought advent calendar chocolates from my friend and they look so cute in their foil wrappers!

Each morning, the boys take it in turn to move the tree that sits in the pocket and take out the chocolates.

As a child, I used to love the chocolate ones - obviously, but our Aunt used to send us a picture advent calendar in the post. I used to love opening the little window to see what scene was behind it.

And as today is the first door to be opened... I feel it is only fair we share some eye candy too!

Having watched both Bridget Jones' Diary movies recently (for research purposes), I fell in love all over again with Mark Darcy (aka Colin Firth). So here he is at the end of Bridget Jones' Diary. :)

The Dating Game...

Pomegranate or broken heart?

Now, maybe I'm being terribly old fashioned here and need to get with the 21st Century, but I believe a girl should be asked out by a boy, and shouldn't be the one doing the chasing.

But maybe I'm wrong, and so I wondered what others thought. Because, now in my single state, I sometimes feel I'm failing miserably at this dating game...

I put it to you: should the men be asking the women out? Or do the men like to be asked out too? Or is that a big turn off?

Any excuse to post a picture of Tom Hiddleston

Now from a woman's point of few, us girls have some insecurities. Us normal girls don't want to appear like bunny boilers. To ensure the guy really is interested, we like to be asked out. If the guy is doing the chasing it means he's interested. We don't want to appear too heavy by texting too much, or needy, we want them to make the first move. And what if the guy really isn't interested, and you're texting, calling etc. Are you just being a pest?

This is what runs through us girls minds. Or at least mine...

I know when I write a hero, he always does the hard work. Okay, so my heroine might let on that she likes him, and gives him the green light, but it has to come from him. The man pursues the woman. He makes the realisation that she's the one for him etc.

Favourite scene ever in Love Actually

I believe men should open doors for women. It's nothing to do with equality. It's about manners, about being a gentleman. However, it being the 21st Century, on a date, I don't actually expect the guy to pay the whole bill, but when he does, it's rather nice.

And what about flowers? Do you like receiving flowers (if you're a girl) and (as a boy) do you like sending/giving flowers?

Are girls playing it too cool and losing the guy's interest, or is it a sign he's not really all that interested if he doesn't make the first move and doesn't contact?

What about mobile phones and texting, and even social media, are they making us lazy? I laughed out loud at this line in Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy. Bridget is comparing texting and Twitter in the 21st Century to letter writing in Jane Austen's era, and Talitha puts her straight...

"Bridget. Sleeping with a twenty-nine year old off Twitter on the second date is not 'rather like in Jane Austen's day'." 

What are the new dating rules?

I want to know... answers on a postcard please... or just leave in the comments below.

I need this information so that I am prepared for the day when Tom Hiddleston calls me for a date. I'll know exactly what to do!