Christmas Magic

Remember Christmas as a kid? The hyper excitement? Not being able to sleep, but being afraid Santa wouldn't come unless you did? Waking up and realizing it was Christmas day?

When I was a kid we were never allowed to see our gifts until Mom and Dad were up. If we woke up before they did we were allowed to go to the bathroom or each others bedrooms, but we weren't allowed in the living room or whatever room the tree was in.

My brother was always the morning person in the family, but the excitement of Christmas made it easier for me to wake up than other mornings. With whispering and creaking footsteps we'd try to sneak peaks at the tree. There was something magical about waking up knowing the tree we'd carefully decorated would be surrounded by gifts, and the stockings we'd bickered over would be filled with candy, batteries, chapstick, and assorted "little things."

As kids we didn't question the magic of Christmas, simply anticipating the day made the magic real. Somewhere along the line - perhaps when we started to see the gifts Mom and Dad slipped into shopping carts, perhaps when they in inadvertently showed us a tape of them wrapping our Christmas gifts, or perhaps just when we got too old to believe everything we were told - somewhere believing in the magic turned to pretending to believe in the magic. I've considered myself "too old" to believe in things like Santa Clause for a long time, but even in the years I declared "I know where those presents really came from!" there was something magic about seeing gifts around the tree for the first time on Christmas morning.

This year I found myself wanting to hang onto that magic.

I woke up to the smell of coffee, and the sound of my parents in the kitchen. I've never liked the taste of coffee, but I love the smell of it, and waking up to the smell of coffee always makes me think of family time. Though we're no longer banished to our room until everyone is awake, I found myself not wanting to get out of bed. Nestling in my blankets I breathed in the smell of my parents coffee, and smiled at the realization it was Christmas day. As long as I stayed in bed the anticipation made the magic real. And who doesn't want to believe in a little magic?