Twelve Days of Christmas - Christmas Magic

There's a memory I have, of when my brother and I were really young on Christmas morning. We woke up, excited to see if Santa had been, we opened presents, had breakfast and then, my mum gasped! "Look whats outside!" she said, and as my brother and I ran to the window to see why she was so shocked, all we could see was a playhouse sitting in the garden. We of course screamed with joy and ran outside in the cold to see it, before my mum insisted we put clothes on instead of pyjamas. I told everyone the story, anyone who would listen to me. We were asleep, my mum was asleep, so of course, it could only have been Santa! I mean, who else could have done it? Who else could have known about the playhouse, because the only place we mentioned it was in our letters that were posted to the North Pole.

Obviously I figured out as I grew up that Santa wasn't real, and that my mum was the one who spent Christmas Eve, in the dark, outside, building a playhouse for us. But that magic has stayed with me throughout my life. Everyone has always told me that as I got older, it would fade, and that you realise it's all about the kids. But that's just not true. I love the magic of the season, it spread through everyone and it makes simple things seem wonderful. 

People seem friendlier. They smile more, they seem almost lifted by the season, and people never fail to smile if you wish them Merry Christmas. There are lights almost everywhere! From the street lights to the Christmas trees you can see in living rooms as you pass by, and lets not forget the fairy lights covering windows and shopfronts. I sometimes wish they could stay all year round, and brighten up the darken months, especially at the beginning of the year. But then if they were they wouldn't be as special, they would feel ordinary and lose their magic. 

So even though we're all to old to believe in Santa, and we know who actually eats the mince pies on Christmas Eve, I hope the feeling of it all never leaves me. I hope that I'm never too old for Christmas, and I will always believe in the magic of it all.

Four Sleeps Til Christmas!