The Magic of Christmas

Yesterday was the Sunday after Thanksgiving. As a long standing personal tradition, it was also the day that marks the beginning of the Christmas season for me: I start listening to nothing but Christmas music, I put up my Christmas tree, and in general start thinking about what I should be doing to get ready for Christmas as far as presents for family and friends.

This is all quite new to my wife, as she was raised Sikh, and Christmas was not a part of her tradition.

This year has been somewhat different than usual. I am almost done with my Christmas shopping, for one thing, and I started listening to some Christmas music about a week or so ago. (It was a huge change for me, believe that...) However, I just wasn't quite feeling up to putting up the tree and the decorations. Until, that is, I woke up yesterday morning, to find a layer of beautiful white snow blanketing the ground. Then, I was pretty much ready to go.

So, after breakfast yesterday morning with the in-laws (which consisted of chocolate, coconut, and pumpkin pie!!) and a quick game of Taboo, Bibi, Grace and I headed back to our house to get started. Grace fell asleep along the way, and so Bibi and I made the multiple trips down to the basement to bring up our tree, ornaments, stockings, lights, and various other necessities. I put on the Christmas Music playlist on random, Bibi warmed up some hot cocoa, and we got out a plate of fudge cookies to munch on. Leo, tired from playing with his girlfriend Molly, fell fast asleep on his bed.

The tree went up quickly, the lights were strung up without difficulty, and the ornaments looked beautiful as the went on, one-by-one. We cleared off a prominent place for my Nativity Scene, and it was around this time that little Gracie awoke from her mid-day slumber. She came out of her room, and immediately wanted to be cuddled by Bibi. However, after a little mama-time, Gracie soon realized that there was something different in our living room. She spent the next four hours or so laughing and giggling and "oohing" and "ahing" at our tree. She was standing on the couch, reaching over the arm pointing to various ornaments, and blowing kisses to the gingerbread men. At one point, Bibi turned to me and said, "You know, they say that that children bring out the Magic of Christmas." And, even though this isn't Grace's first Christmas "technically", it really kind of is.

However, the best part for me was when I was putting our dinner in the oven, and Bibi was carrying Grace around the kitchen, telling her what all I was doing. Grace's attention was drawn to the Nativity Scene, and in particular the baby Jesus. Bibi started describing how Christmas-time is when we celebrate Jesus' soul coming to earth, and how this was a wonderful thing for all of humanity. Grace's reaction to the baby Jesus was priceless. She started cooing, and laughing her sweet little laugh, and all she wanted to do was hold the little baby Jesus figure. Her eyes got really big, and she just kept making this unbelievably magical sounds, as she marveled at the little statue in her hands.

It really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

(Sorry, that was cheesy.)

Thanks for stopping by...

Tommy