Those who have met me will tell you that I am painfully honest (some might say blunt) about how difficult I find some aspects of parenting. I love alone time and silence, and those are in short supply when you have young kids… But oh! The Christmas magic. It makes up for all of it…
Even though (spoiler alert), I am the one who bought the presents and filled the stockings and, in many ways, manufactured the magic (along with my husband who eats the mince pie and crunches the carrots in a convincingly reindeer-messy way), I am *all in* on the magic. A couple of times today I found myself wondering what would be in the kids stockings, before remembering that I bought all the things!
Part of this is because I *remember* that feeling of waking up on Christmas morning and seeing the transformation from the night before… the memory still makes my heart beat faster. And part of it is that I really believe in the magic of Christmas traditions – in singing Christmas carols as we walk to the beach, the same Ella and Louis album on repeat for weeks, eating too much chocolate as we open our gifts, mango pancakes for Christmas breakfast, the whole big, wild family gathering to eat too much and shower the kids in gifts and play Spiteful Santa (adults only!) I love every bit of it.
I also feel peaceful about the kids / excess element because of such wise advice we were given when my son was born: a Christmas rule of four. “One thing you want, one thing you need, one thing to wear, one thing to read.” (And a stocking and a wish from Santa! 🎅🏽)
Of course, the memory of my mom is never far away, and I’ve teared up a few times in the past few days thinking of her and missing her… Her shrine will be lit up with candles tomorrow, and they’ll burn all day. For those who are missing loved ones at this time of year, I’m sending extra love and strength… It gets easier with time, I promise.
Here’s wishing you and yours a peaceful Christmas…
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