When December hit, I started feeling extra emotional. I have this print on my kitchen counter that local card maker, Curly Girl Design, made a few years ago. It hits me every time I read it.
“There comes a moment every year when something whispers in our ear believe, believe, believe.”‘
My oldest two daughters are in that sweet spot of really noticing the holidays around us. They love all the activities, all the lights, and all our very simple family traditions. It’s a time of year filled with cherished, small and simple moments. Seeing this time of year through my children’s eyes reminded me how magical it all really is.
I have found this month to be heartwarming while also bittersweet. As if the holidays have become a ticking clock for a mother, where we checked another one off from their childhood, knowing they are numbered, but not really knowing what that number will be. That thought has stopped me in my tracks this holiday season. It has left me feeling guilty when I felt busy and didn’t have time to play with them or have the energy to sit and read a story. As if I didn’t have any minutes to waste with them in this moment in time. These moments we don’t get back. It’s overwhelming as a mother when these emotions constantly tug every which way inside you. And it’s felt heightened during the holiday season.
I was chatting about these feelings to my husband, and he reminded me that you never really do lose that magic. Around this time of year, we all have that child inside us. It reminded me what I already felt to be true and just needed to hear it from someone else. That the feelings our children feel around this time, we feel as adults, too. It may change a little as our children age and go through life, but it’s always there. It’s always inside. As a mother, we see the holiday magic through our children’s eyes. But we can also feel it ourselves, too. And we deserve to feel it.
This holiday season, do the activities that bring you joy. Be a child again. Love hard and notice the love all around you in little things throughout the day. Embrace the simple pleasures and simple moments. This feeling of the holiday magic doesn’t leave us as we get older. It sure hasn’t left me. Becoming a mother has allowed me to embrace the magic I see in my children’s eyes, and allow them to see it in my eyes, too.
