Sunday, December 03, 2006

Seeing the Magic

The most beautiful adventures are not those we go to seek.

This was the fortune in my cookie at dinner Saturday night. Fortune cookies are not life changing, but they are entertaining. A friend of ours makes them more entertaining by always adding the phrase, "in bed" to the end of the fortune, but that is a subject for another time (or perhaps not.) This fortune though reminded me of something that happened last Tuesday where Nolan (2 1/2) reminded me to enjoy the journey.

I love the Christmas season, but even though I try to keep it simple and focused on what is important, the joy and magic of the season often seem lost in my to do list. This week Nolan brought me back to it.

We were going to Christmas in the Park at a nearby town. The town was lighting the big tree, providing snacks and musical entertainment, and Santa was there. There were lots of people and long lines. It was ok, and the kids enjoyed themselves, but the real highlight of the evening was found in the journey; the ride there and back home again.

Not far from us, there is a house with a large Christmas light display. On the way to the park, we drove slowly past the house to let the kids get a good look. There were plenty of ooohs and aaahs, as expected. What was not expected was Nolan's reaction to the lights.

He loved the lights at that house and at every other house too. Every time he saw lights he would point and excitedly say, "other one." I think he is trying to say another one, but it comes out other one. It didn't matter if the whole yard was lit up or if there was one small strand displayed, he loved them and was so excited. Soon, the other kids were joining in and all searching for the next house with lights. It was contagious and Tim and I couldn't help but smile and join right in.

We went home a different way and the reaction was the same. In fact, since then, every time Nolan sees Christmas lights he has the same reaction. Such simple and complete joy, it is enough to take this task oriented mom pull away from the to do list and enjoy the journey and the season. May we all take the time to look at Christmas through a child's eyes and remember the magic.


This is my Pass the Torch for the week. For more stories about kids doing something good check Pass the Torch.

10 comments:

  1. I was reminded by my youngest's reaction to meeting Santa for the first time. It is wonderful indeed.

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  2. We don't make a big deal about snata, but we are squash him either. So after Lydia and Nolan went and sat on his lap, Nolan didn't say anything, but when Lydia was placed up there all she said she wanted was the bag of candy that he was giving out. Afterwards she told us,"That really wasn't santa, that was just a costume. We all know that santa isn't real."

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  3. Hello there. I just wanted to let you all know that St. Albans City Park has a festival of lights display that you can drive through. It is free, although they ask for a small donation (1 or 2 dollars- Isabella and I took a bag of change last year ;) and a couple canned goods. It's kind of far away, and sometimes there is quite a line,but I think your family would really enjoy it. There are ALOT of lights.

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  4. The little girl I babysit does the same thing for cows, horses and "balloon-ies". She absolutely freaked out one day when we passed a car dealership with balloons all over it. I thought she was going to burst a vein in her neck yelling about them. We made up a song to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it" that goes, "She goes looney for balloonies in the sky... " LOL! We had to sing it for a week in the car by request of the boys! LOL!

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  5. Here's the website about the lights!

    http://www.salights.com/index.cfm

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  6. My 21 month old is thrilled by Christmas lights, too. She points to them and says "Tee!". She thinks they must all be Christmas trees. Seeing the excitement in the little ones really is one of the best things about Christmas!

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  7. Isunshine
    Thanks for the St Alban info. I was also thinking about Yuletide in the Park in Hurricane. Have you been there?

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  8. This is a beautiful post. And it absolutely fits for Pass the Torch Tuesday. There's so much we can learn from our kids, if we take the time to pay attention, isn't there??

    Thanks so much for joining us!!

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  9. That's so lovely. We went for a drive before bed the other night to find the 'pretty houses' ie the ones with their lights up. My son got very excited about the houses that were all decorated, then he saw a house that had coloured party lights in the back verandah -and thought they had decorated too. Now he thinks every porch light is a Christmas light LOL!

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  10. congratulations, stephanie! this was a beautiful post, and deserving of note! I am wishing I was in the Hundred Acre Wood just now...

    Happy Holidays,
    christina

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