One Last Visit

 This is the eighth Christmas by Candlelight that they have visited with (this) Santa. For a few reasons we weren't originally planning to attend Christmas by Candlelight this year, but when we heard that this year would be his last (he's retiring after twenty-one years) Dave and I knew that we had to make one final visit with him happen. For a family who isn't big on Santa there really is something very magical about this particular Santa. If I didn't know better I'd say he's the real deal! 

 Since we had originally told the girls we weren't going to Christmas by Candlelight this year we felt it was only right to tell them why we had changed our minds. They were excited to see him again, but a bit sad, too. This Santa is the only one they've ever visited, and I know they looked forward to chatting with him each year. And I think he looked forward to their visit, too. I've long felt that he remembered them each year. Maybe that's silly but it's always felt that way to me. 

If I'm being honest, I do believe that his retirement comes at the exact right moment for our girls. At (almost) ten-and-a-half and (almost) nine years old this very well could be the final year of Santa for them anyway. A natural ending if you will. And those kind of endings really are the best, most gentle kinds, I do believe.  

And so, after our visit I decided that it might be wise to mention this to the girls. 

"Next year, even if there is a new Santa, how about if we skip visiting him? Let's leave the Santa visits for the younger kids and let our time with Santa visits end with his retirement this year. What do you girls think?"

They agreed that it was a lovely idea. 

"And you do realize what this means, don't you? It means that you get to become part of the Christmas magic now. It means you get to help make Christmas magical for those who are younger than you. You get to be Santa's helpers, if you will, spreading Christmas cheer and magic for all those who need it. Do you think you'd like to do that?!"

As you can well imagine, if you have been a reader of this blog or a friend of ours for any length of time, the girls were definitely up for being part of the magic!

And so, with that, we say a very sincere thank you to this very dear soul. Thank you, Santa, for making their childhoods (and my mamahood) a little more magical. Thank you for eight years of wonderful visits at Christmas by Candlelight. They will forever be some of our most cherished holiday memories. xo

Our Yearly Visit

This past Friday we journeyed to Old Sturbridge Village to attend Christmas by Candlelight. I say "journeyed" because, for some strange reason, it took us 90 minutes to get there instead of our normal 45. All I could think was "goodness, we could have driven to Connecticut in that length of time"! Once we finally arrived we made a beeline for Santa. The line was on the shorter side, and we were glad to not have too many people in front of us (although it was about a 30 minute wait before we got to visit with him). 

As I shared last year Santa is not a focal point of Christmas for us. The girls came to their belief in him all on their own (and believe they do). It's not to say that we discourage Santa, though we don't really encourage him either (more about that in the link above if you haven't read it already), however there is just something about this Santa, and it wouldn't feel like December without our visit with him. He chatted with the girls about what they were hoping for for Christmas (Legos for those wondering). He was delighted to learn that we are a homeschool family, and they chatted at great length about Saint Nicholas (and how that's really who he is) and how stockings came to be (which the girls knew, of course, having just read all sorts of Saint Nicholas stories earlier this month). Finally, it was time to go. Goodness knows the line had grown while we were up there and he had many more families to visit with. We wished him a very Merry Christmas and he wished us one back along with a "see you next year!"  Right back at ya, Santa! xo

Christmas Eve

We wish you all the most magical of nights tonight and the most magical day of days tomorrow! May all your Christmas wishes come true!