So, having discovered the Advent of Code site and being intrigued by the way the puzzles were framed, I found the early ones a nice distraction from my usual "business" coding. They seemed to go back to computing basics, and a lot of things that an everyday web developer or back end programmer just doesn't need to think about.

It took me back to the things I enjoyed about coding before bills, mortgages, taxes etc... entered into my life!

Also, I'm slightly ashamed to admit, I think the fact that there was a leaderboard may have stirred up a latent competitive spirit.

Once I'd done the first couple of puzzles, I started to get it. Eric Wastl obviously puts a large amount of effort into thinking through his puzzles, providing unique input for each participant, but also in framing the puzzle with a fun, Christmas themed story.

I also realised that I didn't really want to create one or two new console applications every day to participate in this, so a framework was required...