As the months change, from November to December my eyes light up at the thought of the most magical month of the year. December, how I love December and everything it promises. The thought of winter settling in excites me! I am a hot chocolate, good book and warm corner kind of girl on a cold wintery morning. Of course, I get to break out my entire winter wardrobe which makes a guest appearance once a year. So many sweaters, scarves and shoes to choose from!
But the highlight of this season, the bright star on the horizon, is Christmas. The magic of Christmas really does make this month sparkle and shine. Coming from India I confess that my Christmas traditions may be poles apart from everyone else. However, as a child I have been brought up with a Christmas tree towering over me and an angle smiling from atop the tree.
My earliest Christmas memory is my aunt sitting and hanging baubles of the tree and me arranging a little nativity scene on the side.
My family did their best to spread the magic and cheer of Christmas around me and my sister as we grew up. Santa Claus was very real and we would leave cookies and milk for him by the tree. As a child, my father showed me a website where I could see Santa’s village at the North Pole, see how his elves were doing and check if I had been naughty or nice. What a revelation that was! However, my clever farther also told me the site only operated during Christmas and I believed him. It was only recently I remembered this and decided to take a look at the website, which is of course operational all year round. It still exists! Take a look at it, if you want to share it with your kids, it’s different but the magic is still there: http://www.northpole.com/
I remember one Christmas when I thought I heard sleigh bells on the roof of the house and who knows maybe Santa actually came by to pay us a visit or it could have been my aunt with a bell outside my room making me believe in the magic of Christmas. Then as I grew older and realised my dad was Santa, I remember trying to surprise my sister with gifts every year. Once she refused to go to bed and stood watching the tree. She was convinced that Santa would show up at 12 am with presents. I was wondering how to get her to leave the room and just then with a few minutes to spare, the power went out and we were plunged into darkness. I got up and ran in the dark, to where I had hidden the presents and threw them under the tree as I sat back in my seat just as the lights returned. The look on her face was priceless and since I was wearing a red top she actually thought she saw Santa come and go in a flash. And who knows, maybe he had a hand in the power outage? It’s that innocence that I want to forever preserve.
As a child, Christmas=Magic and to be honest it still does. Now that we are all grown up (but still believe in Santa) my sister and I are in charge of decorations.
We set aside an entire evening, dancing to the tune of Christmas songs while I decorate the tree and she decorates the house. It is the highlight of my year and something I look forward to as soon as Christmas ends. It is my belief in the magic of Christmas that has been the foundation for my belief that there is magic in this world. Does Santa actually live at the North Pole, do Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen actually alight on the roofs of children over the world every Christmas eve?
I do not know. I want to believe in the stories of magic and the North Pole. What I do know is that there is magic in this world, it may not be the kind where you snap your fingers and make gifts appear, it may be the magic you see in a child’s eye when you hand them a present. It may be the look on your families face when you come home for Christmas, it may be the helping hand of a stranger or it may be the look of pure love on your partners face. In this world that is being torn apart by terror every day, we have to believe in the innate goodness of people, in the magic that we bring into this world, in the magic we create. Magic exists, it is very real, you just have to believe, and go out there and make it happen.
Weaving Words 