It was almost 6 p.m. in Stockholm, and we were rushing to make to the nightly Christmas Living Advent Calendar performance. The event starts at 6.15 p.m., and lasts only about 15 minutes. A series of songs and speeches, which is now a 14-year-old tradition in Stockholm, build on the old German advent calendar tradition. 

But we were stuck in Stockholm's serious rush-hour traffic. Our driver quickly realized she had to try some side streets if we were to arrive on time and that's what she did. It was just a few minutes until the start of the show when we arrived at a square near Sweden's Royal Palace in an old town, were met by some organizers of the Living Advent Calendar and walking quickly made it to a second-story perch just as the show began. 

In a narrow building patio, filled with about 80 people, the windows across the way opened and suddenly a choir dressed in red shirts and red Christmas stocking caps leaned out and started singing the old standard, "Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer." The performers, from a neighborhood choir, looked like Santa Claus's helpers themselves. They sang acapella and it had an intimate feel. 

Lisa W. Hellberg, director of Master Olofs Garden, a longstanding Stockholm cultural center and community house that organizes the nightly Living Advent Calendar, says: "We have lots of calendars and some do just one performance just for the first of December and then maybe Christmas Eve, so we are going on and on and on every day. So I think that's one thing that's unique." 

The Living Advent Calendar started in Stockholm in 2004 and, Hellberg, says, within a year, some 50 other Swedish towns had followed suit. But they stopped after one or two years, while Stockholm continued. 

The Living Advent Calendar switches locations nightly in and around the old town, repeating performances only at a few of the locations during December. The change of venues each night aims to add to the surprise and the excitement, as locals and visitors alike show up to watch. The performers are community choirs, like the one we saw, which this night also sang "Deck the Halls," or professionals, even children. 

Martina Tillbom, a singer on this night who's been involved for years, says: "The people who are listening always want to hear 'Silent Night' and those very famous Christmas songs. But we have always had one, two or three new songs."

The performances also include speeches. On the night we attended, a Syrian war refugee, Omar Al Zan Kah, who's been in Stockholm two years and works in project management, told the crowd what it's like to be an outsider at Sweden's holiday time. "It's Christmas. It's a holiday and I'm not a part of it," he says. "But I try to be a part of it. So it's just about ignorance, but I'm trying to be a part of this society, to be integrated." 

And soon, the show was over. Just a quarter of an hour long, a few songs and some stirring words for contemplation. On the chilly December nights of Stockholm, the Living Advent Calendar aims to bring warmth and show inclusion, Hellberg says. And spectators need to be on their toes to arrive on time for the nightly show.