My wish for you at Christmas

I hope you are finding magic, warmth, and joy in this holiday season, and I hope the magic continues for many more days.

Our ornaments, like our holidays, mix old traditions and new experiences. For example, this very old green glass ornament comes from Peter's parents' tree. My mom embroidered the yellow bird shortly before she died about 30 years ago. A music-loving snowman purchased only a couple of years ago celebrates our delight in music, the heart came from a good friend, and the jester is a memento of a stay in a favorite city, New Orleans.

Over the years, my husband has greatly expanded my understanding of what a family Christmas can be. He spends enormous effort finding just the right gifts, and then wrapping and presenting them in ways designed to surprise and delight. We also developed many family rites and traditions, mostly focused on daughter Abby.

Now Abby and Eric are creating traditions for their children, centered in their own home. Instead of packing up the kids to come here or trek to Montana, they arranged Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at home, and we spent part of each with them. Everything was relaxed, flexible, responsive to toddler needs, and designed for maximum delight.

I played with Augie's expanded train set, read to both kids, and crawled under the bunk bed while we played bone-digging archaeologist. I wore my new pink crown, chosen by Augie and Vi who have dubbed me "Glinda" in their ongoing Wizard of Oz fantasy.

Speaking of which, Peter and I made these ornaments (from a kit) and used them as gift tags. Vi handed out the gifts based on the characters she has assigned. When Augie got his Scarecrow gift, he laughed with excitement. "Mom, mom, look! I got a present and it has ME on top!"

I hope that you will giggle with joy and delight during this holiday season and through the new year.