Christmas Magic

So yesterday's post was bit...shall we say facetious. Since this is my last post until Christmas is over, I'll make it more in keeping with the holiday spirit. Because, I swear, I am not a Scrooge.

Do you remember what it was like to be a kid at Christmas time? Everything seemed larger than life. The lights were brighter, the trees were bigger, the cookies were tastier, and Santa was The Man. As an adult, I miss that. As a kid, Christmas is about the magic. We sort of lose that once we know Santa isn't real and Rudolph does not live at the North Pole or anywhere else for that matter. I'm not saying Christmas is less special to adults or that we lose the true meaning of Christmas, simply that we tend to forget what Christmas meant to us as children. Children believe and so they see what we adults don't because we usually want to see first.

I believed in Santa for the longest time. I still believe in the spirit of Santa, but not the actual person. I saw Santa when I was 4 years old and so I had the hardest time letting go of him. My parents woke my sister and me up late one Christmas Eve and they had us peek out of our bedroom door. From our door we could see the dining room table and there was Santa. He was eating the cookies and drinking the milk. It was amazing! As a child, that was magic in its greatest and rarest form. The legend that we knew about, but never got to see was in our dining room. (We did see Santa in the mall, but we had been taught that the Santa in the mall wasn't really Santa, but one of his many elves working for him because Santa wouldn't leave the North Pole except on Christmas Eve.) Santa was real to me for the longest time and I can remember being heartbroken when I found out it was really my Pap dressed up in a costume.

Christmas still does have a magical power that will hopefully never fade. Instead of coming in the form of Old St. Nick, eight tiny reindeer, and presents made by elves in the North Pole that magically appear under the tree, Christmas magic comes from family and those that you love gathered in your house exchanging gifts and remembering funny stories from the past year.

One of my all-time favorite holiday traditions is reading The Night Before Christmas. As a kid, this story helped solidify the existence of Santa and his reindeer. As an adult, I enjoy the timeless tradition and the feelings of "Maybe. Just maybe." that I get when I hear the story. I also like that the only person in the story to actually see Santa is an adult.

When I was a kid the magic of Christmas was in everything that was created for me. Christmas in and of itself was magic. As I get older though, I learn that the magic of Christmas comes from me and from my family and friends. The miracles and magnificence of the holidays does not come from things I believe in, but rather from the real love and laughter of everyone I'm with during the holidays. When I do have kids I hope that I can teach them that by believing in an unforeseen sparkly holiday magic as kids, one day they will understand the real magic of Christmas.