Humorous Obama Advent calendar a fun holiday gift

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright is the Grinch. Oprah Winfrey is the Sugar Plum Fairy. John Edwards is the Red-faced Reindeer. Jesse Jackson is the Nutcracker. John McCain is Scrooge, and Sarah Palin is the Snow Queen.

The brand-new "Obama White House Christmas Advent Calendar" draws on a number of classic holiday tales to lampoon 25 of the outsize characters the American people got to know along Barack Obama's road to the White House.

The idea for an Obama-themed Advent calendar, with the traditional system of opening a new window on each day of the season leading up to Christmas, came to former Chicago Sun-Times editor, page designer and columnist Chris Whitehead and his creative partners on Nov. 5.

"The election had been so interesting, especially living in the [Kenwood] neighborhood. We were talking about all the interesting characters who had been part of it, and we got this idea for the calendar. We started putting this person behind this window, and that person behind that window," Whitehead says.

Chris Britt, editorial cartoonist at the State Journal Register in Springfield, worked at Santa's-sleigh speed to create the clever caricatures "almost overnight," Whitehead says. "He had done some of the people before," like Gov. Blagojevich, depicted on the calendar as Tiny Tim, and President Bush, the Ghost of Christmas Past, Whitehead says.

Rick Tuma, a local graphic artist and illustrator, did the cover scene of the White House, with Santa passing overhead, trailing a banner that reads, "Change." Triangle Printing of Skokie, with experience in Advent calendars, rushed out the final product almost in time for the start of Advent last Sunday. The first edition is just 5,000 copies.

The 14½-by-11-inch calendars are available for $18 each at Paper Source stores; What the Traveler Saw, 1508 E. 55th St.; 57th Street Books, 1301 E. 57th St.; Crosell & Co., 1922 N. Damen; the Chiasso store, 2112 N. Clybourn, and online at www.chiasso.com.