moments of magic :: blogmas day 13

When the children were tiny, December meant I was chasing my tail from the moment I woke up until the moment I collapsed into bed, my days full of christmas crafts and concerts and storytime and presentation days and more christmas crafts (and then throw in weekend full of making magic for other families, behind the camera taking Santa photos). I hustled to make the magic, knowing (or at least thinking), that my days of childish wonder would be limited and one day I would miss the busy-ness and the magic it was in aid of.

This Christmas, I have a houseful of almost-grown children – 19, 17, 15 and 12. This week, my biggest to-do list item has been to manage the daily car roster; with four drivers, three cars and three children in shift work, the juggle and the struggle is real! Last week, when sharing our advent vending machine, I mentioned how I thought the children had outgrown the activity calendar I used to make each year. At dinner on Sunday night, I was told I was wrong, and at least half the children were actively sad there wasn’t one this year, leaving me scrambling to come up with a plan B that works around the increasingly complicated schedule that comes with teenage children.

This morning, with the doors thrown wide open to let the cool air in, as the children slept, I posted a little letter to their mailbox, before sneaking in some crafting of my own. It was a rare Saturday morning with all four at home, so the card instructed it was Santa photo day with a side serve of carols in the evening. Not only did they all willingly present themselves for a fit check, but Boy2 also insisted we leave early to buy him a new shirt to be sure he matched his siblings.

We went to town. We popped our name down for a ham raffle and chucked our gold coin in the hospital fundraiser to earn our spot on the nice list, and said hello to Santa. These delightful children cheerily made jokes with Santa, and lined up exactly as I told them. They looked and smiled and not a single silly face was to be found. We thanked Santa and the hospital committee, bought some raffle tickets and chucked the change in the wishing well, and we were off in search of the next adventure.

We stopped by the bbq in the main street where a friend was raising money for their kiddo’s sports club, and bought ourselves a sausage sanga each for late morning tea/early lunch. We wandered around the corner and found Mama Barefoot and her merry band of CWA ladies, also raising funds, and we spent up a storm on relish and slices and super cute decorations (honestly, at $1 a stem, those wire flowers were criminally underpriced). We bumped into old workmates to chat to and church friends to say hello to and preschool mums to exchange passing “hihowyagoings” with. The street was packed, the speakers were belting out carols, and it was the kind of morning just oozing with Christmas spirit. Not even a stop at Bunnings on the way home could dampen my good mood.

At home, everyone was happily occupied with their own projects, so I was able to sneak into the craft room for an episode of Bones and some journaling catch up – one episode netted me four pages in two journals, a strike rate I’m pretty pleased with. I edited a video and uploaded a blog post and hung with the kiddos and helped the mister with a garden building project that was my idea but his problem to actually make happen. As the shadows lengthened, we packed up for the day, got ourselves cleaned up and changed, and loaded up the car to head out for carols. We’d been invited to join a carols service at a small local community in their hall, and it was such a lovely evening of fellowship and community and singing and delicious supper.

If I could go back to 2018, or 2011, or 2009, and tell myself, frantic with the need to make the most of magic I expected would disappear, just one thing, it’s that magic is always there. if anything, with big kids, it’s even more magical, because they see the work and join in to make memories and special moments happen. And every year they do, it feels like a bonus, and that is magic in itself. So tonight, I’m raising a gingerbread bikkie & a cup of tea to TWENTY years of Santa photos, and of making Christmas magic for these precious wee folk of mine. That’s a milestone to be proud of.