Tis the season for giving and receiving.

As a gift this year, my mom got me the Lego Harry Potter Advent Calendar, and I am gifting it back as a review to prove that this is a gift worth giving and one that I have truly enjoyed receiving. Part one of this new series will entail the 1st through the 4th days of the calendar, and will update every Saturday here after until Christmas Eve. Why was this not posted yesterday, you may be wondering?...

So, I will be going through each individual set with both arbitrary AND legitimate critiques, therefore everything I say should be taken solely as opinion. I have also taken the liberty of getting my husbands point of view. He has somehow managed to never see or watch anything from the Harry Potter series except for the first Fantastic Beasts movie. Thus, his opinions should be taken as straight facts.

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	The first entry on our list was actually a major let down. What is this? 3 /10 From what I can tell, it appears to be some sort of wall with lamps. However, beyond this, it's completely vague. While it's a mostly solid build in terms of Legos, it's just too nondescript for the wizarding world which has so many notable references from the original movies and the games that this is just inexcusable, especially for the first day of the calendar.
	I actually do want to applaud the design, despite my reservations about what it is. I give the set a 7/10. It took a good few minutes to build with 33 pieces total. Most of the pieces have reuse value which is always a plus. The only gripe I have with this particular design is the inclusion of the swinging 1x1 which I found esthetically unpleasing and mostly useless.

And now, a word from @BananoFarmer:

Nice wall. I give it a 5/10 because I think that pole is a nice melee weapon.

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	Now this is a Harry Potter Lego set! 8/10 This set is so cute! I love how they were able to capture the idea of not just Quiddich, but also implementing elements of opposing teams, in such a tiny little set. I almost want to string this up and hang it on my tree, alas. Cat and toddler make that far too risky. It stays in my personal collection for now. Though, as a Ravenclaw myself I may switch out the red for blue. Which is why this isn't a perfect 10. It's always about Griffindor and Slytherin.
	The price of creativity is structure 2/10. This set only includes 17 pieces, so it was an admittedly boring build of less than a minute. It also implements my least favorite build: Stacking 1x2's directly on top of each other. They're a pain to take apart, and an over all burden to the structural integrity. I also would not have used two flat squares, but rather a flat 2x4 for the base in this instance as its very flimsy. Lastly, as much as I love them, the hoops are problematic. They are very unstable pieces, and hold very little reuse value. It's staying in my collection as it more of a novelty that than a toy.

Anything to add, Husband?

I knew it was the Olympics!

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	You're a lego, Harry 10/10 Look at his lil wand! And his lil legs! Of all the Harry Lego figures I've owned over the years, this one is definitely my favorite.
	I've got a small nit pick. So sorry. 9/10 As I've stated, I enjoy when Lego pieces have reuse value. In the past wands have been plain straight stick pieces of varying colors, which while a little clunky served their purpose well, easy to be latched onto, and held that value of being repurposed when the next game came. The new wands are very specific, and I found getting them into the hands to be mildly difficult. The set also came in a pair with an extra, which while useful, says a lot about how easy these things are to lose. As much as I, an adult, love the wand, as a kid's toy I think functionality is a bit more important than accuracy, as stated above with the Quiddich hoops.

Banano?

It's a tiny lego guy, what else can you ask for? I'd give it a 10/10 if it was a skeleton.

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	Ronald Weasley! Hoooow DARE you steal that CAAAAR! 7/10 I absolutely adore this set, though I will admit it took my eyes a second to realize what it was. For that I did rank it lower, as it's just a bit too clunky, especially with the branches. Without the car, I wouldn't be able to piece together that it's an angry willow tree, which is a little unfortunate as the Womping willow has a few notable appearances throughout the series, besides the car crash.
	BUT SERIOUSLY LOOK AT THE TINY CAR OMFG 10/10 16 pieces. They managed to tell so much with just 16 pieces. And I can think of so many things to with every single piece, including the tiny car wheels! On top of that, the design is very solid. The Lego engineers outdid themselves here in creativity AND structural integrity.

Husband, what do you think of this absolute master piece?

My favorite piece. But while I was watching it built, I was hoping it was a wooden robot powered by magic, instead it's a living tree with a car on top. Still good, but not as cool as a robot tree.

This concludes the first installment. I'd love to know which one you liked best. At the end of the series I will rank each set by most popular.

Merry holidays, dear readers!

Though I do find this season to be a silently stressful one, the little moments of serenity found in basking in yuletide cheer tend to stick out the most when looking back upon these days. This year, I will certainly not forget! In my absence from this site, I took a wonderfully strenuous trip into the world of higher education. I am now proud to call myself a registered dental assistant! Woo! Hello pay bump! I am also proud to announce my child is almost fully potty trained! And my favorite moment within this year has to be the welcoming of our new fur baby, Toes, the snuggly orange kitty.

I'm hoping to post more often now that I will have more time. I thought this series would be an excellent return as it involves two properties I hold rather dear to my heart, especially during this season. As a kid, I loved snuggling up with my mom and siblings to watch the Harry Potter movies or listen to mom read the books every night. Mom was such a fan, and she imparted this love with homemade trivia quizzes and purchasing anything and everything related to the series that she could. As I got older, I loved delving into the Lego sets and making my own wizarding adventures, or rebuilding the busted up castle every time one of my younger siblings got into my room while I was at school. I remember the excited anticipation for the Lego video games, which we promptly purchased for both Nintendo DS and Wii, and I now have on Switch. While current events may have sullied my feelings for much of the Wizarding world, I will never look down on those precious memories I have with my family, and especially my mom, whom I owe this new series to as this set was a gift from her. Thank you mom!