The Christmas of My Youth

I was driving down the road this morning listening to some Christmas music when something dawned on me. Actually, I had made this comment to my wife last week, but the thought reoccured.

Remember how the Christmas season was when you were a kid? Every year, the grueling anticipation of Christmas morning grew with each present that was put under the tree. Every day I counted and recounted and guessed as to what each one was.  The lights on the houses and on the trees was like walking through Main Street Disneyland at night, except for the whole month of December. We would try and watch every Christmas show on TV and be gitty about them even though we had seen them all a million times. We would make our annual trip to Christmas Tree Lane, we'd decorate home made sugar cookies, oh and don't get me started about all of my Mom's Christmas candy that we ate all December long.

Christmas time as a kid is magical! 

So, then what happened? As I sat in my car, I realized... there is really nothing magical about Christmas when you are an adult.
But, is that right? Should there be some magic still? As a "mature" adult I know that Christmas is way more about celebrating Christ then presents. And the thought of getting gifts shouldn't be such a big deal. Someone asked me what I wanted for Christmas last week, and I really struggled with thinking of an answer. When I was a kid, I had a list 2 pages long on Thanksgiving to hand out to relatives. So that's good right. And when I look at all the lights on houses and instead of being amazed and wowed, I think, "man, how did they get the lights up on that steep peak?" Cause, they are just light after all, right?

Don't get me wrong. With 3 young boys, I love to see them enjoy the magic of Christmas. I guess a piece of me is jealous. I wish I could have that magic back for just one Christmas season. Woah! That sounds like the premise to a movie. Way to many movies.