Magic

Has it really been almost a month since my last entry??

The festivities of December simply left me with no free time to upkeep the blog. It’s a new year, and I promise to be better.

Our holidays were, in the words of a favorite friend of mine, fantastic. How could they not be, with a two-year-old and four-year-old?? My girls are in the prime of the time of believing and all the magic that goes with that. However, I’m beginning to realize just how fleeting that precious time is. My older daughter is showing more signs of one who will figure it all out very prematurely.

On Christmas Eve, we went to my parents’ house. I brought the girls their pajamas to change into with the hope that they would fall asleep early, giving Mr. and Mrs. Claus more time to set up. On the ride home, I looked in the back seat, and sure enough, they were out like a light. It was only 8pm, so my husband and I were very excited about the prospect of getting to sleep a bit earlier than anticipated. We started talking about all that we had to do that night: assemble the 12 Dancing Princesses’ Castle, bring up all of the presents from the basement and add bows to them, set up the new Dora tent, eat the cookies left out for Santa and leave a thank you note.

When we got home, we carried the girls up to bed. As we laid our four-year-old down on the bed, a huge smile grew across her face. I said to my husband, Aww, look. She must be having a great Christmas dream. She then startled me by busting out in laughter. I asked her if we had just woken her up. She replied, No silly. I was just pretending I was asleep so Santa would come. She claimed she had never fallen asleep.

In horror I then recalled the conversation my husband and I had shared in the car on the way home, thinking both of the girls were asleep: the great detail of what we (not Santa) were going to do that night. I thought, That’s it! The secret is out. Christmas is spoiled. So I asked her what her daddy and I had been talking about in the car. She wouldn’t respond. I’m not sure if a) she really had fallen asleep for a bit and hadn’t heard us; b) she had heard us, but didn’t want to spoil our fun by telling us she knew; or c) she was awake but just didn’t hear us or just didn’t put it together. I tend to think Option C is the most likely possibility.

Regardless, Christmas was a smashing success. My daughters met the morning with glee and enthusiasm; with fun and love. Through the eyes of our little ones, my husband and I have re-discovered the happiness and excitement of this special time of year. Even if this was our last Christmas with the full-fledged “Santa” belief intact (I hope it’s not!), I know the magic that we feel together will never go away.

P.S. Ok, I admit it. This was a particularly sappy blog entry. It comes with the season. Give me some time and I’m sure I’ll be back to my old sarcastic self again.