Last updated November 3, 2026
Privacy
These Christmas calendars are run by me, Bret Patton, for family and friends: a family advent calendar, Snowed In, and The Last Issue. This page says in plain words what the site collects, which is very little. If anything here is unclear, write to hello@bretpatton.com.
The short version
- There are no accounts, no forms, no payments and no cookies.
- Your progress in each calendar stays on your own phone or computer. None of it is sent to me.
- No ads, no tracking, no outside scripts.
- Cloudflare, which hosts the site, keeps short-term request logs that I can look at. More on that below.
Just visiting
When you open a calendar, your browser asks Cloudflare, which hosts this site, for the page. Like every web host, Cloudflare sees the usual technical details of that request: your IP address, the page you asked for, your browser type, and the time. Cloudflare keeps these in its own logs for a short while for security and to keep the site running, under Cloudflare's privacy policy.
I want to be plain about one thing: for this site I have Cloudflare's request logging switched on, so I can see those recent logs (IP address, page, time) in my Cloudflare dashboard. I use them to check that the site is working and to fix problems, nothing else. They are kept for a short while and then they are gone, and I do not keep a list of who visited.
There are no ads, no tracking cookies, no analytics scripts and no scripts from anyone else. Nothing here follows you around the web.
Things saved in your own browser
Each calendar remembers where you are, on your device only, using your browser's local storage: which doors you have opened, which puzzles you have solved and which hints you have used. The entries are named so you can spot them: they start with advent:, snowed-in: or last-issue:.
That is why every phone keeps its own progress and why nobody needs to sign in. Nothing in it is sent to me. The "Start over on this device" button at the bottom of each calendar erases it, and so does clearing this site's data in your browser settings.
Sharing and reminders
The share buttons use your phone's own share sheet, or copy a link or a short "how it went" line to your clipboard, so you decide where it goes. The site itself does not post anywhere. The advent calendar offers a reminders file (a small .ics calendar file) that you can download and add to your own calendar app; it is a plain file and the site does not know whether you used it.
Names on the pages
The pages mention the Patton family by design, because the calendars were made for us. No visitor's name or details appear anywhere.
Links to other places
The hub links only to the three calendars. If a page ever links somewhere else, once you are on another site, that site's privacy policy applies, not this one.
Children
These calendars are made for kids and grown-ups together, and they collect no personal information from anyone, so they collect none from children. There is nothing to type in but puzzle answers, and those stay on your device.
Changes
If the site ever starts doing more, this page will change first and the date at the top will move. I will not quietly add tracking.
Contact
Bret Patton, hello@bretpatton.com.