IS THE magic of Christmas the same for adults as it is for children?

I remember spending many Christmas Eves unable to fall asleep, lying on makeshift beds on the loungeroom floor alongside my cousins.

Our mission was to pretend to be asleep and catch Santa in the act.

“Aha! Santa, we have been waiting for you,” we’d say, turning around slowly while stroking a cat.

Our bedrooms were occupied by aunts and uncles spending the night at ours.

We could hear them laughing and music playing as booze was drunk and merriment made.

Would they scare him off if they stayed up too late?

We never caught Santa in the act.

We woke to the internal Christmas Day alarm clock active in all children under 12.

Bright eyed, we’d see what looked like hundreds of brightly wrapped gifts under the tree.

“He came! He came! There’s presents, wake up!”

Dusty headed adults emerged from rooms.

Coffee and tea was made, adults sat on loungeroom sofas and the kids on the floor.

But one Christmas things were different.

We were house sitting a large stately manor that had a swimming pool.

Instead of lots of big presents around the tree, my brother and I received a stocking each filled with lots of little lollies, toys and games.

I was yet to start primary school so would have been about five-years-old.

After swimming, my mum took hot towels out of the tumble dryer to wrap around us and we feasted on biscuits and cups of tea.

As an adult, I realised we were homeless at the time.

We were house-sitting because we had nowhere to live.

From there we house-sat another home, this too had a pool.

Then we lived in a friend’s garage for a few months before dad got a business off the ground and we moved into a rental.

Nothing was ever explained to me.

Everything we did was sold as an adventure.

Mum and dad never fought or drank to excess.

They were good parents and looking back I see how much effort they made to give us a happy childhood.

As a teenager and into my early 20s, a good Christmas was one that included lots of clubbing and drinking.

I recall the countdowns to Christmas and New Year in clubs and all the drunken kisses that went with it.

Cue age 25 and my first born arrives, a blue eyed, blonde haired, little boy.

He was born in May and just over six months old at his first Christmas.

Suddenly Santa photo ops and toy shops were more appealing than chugging down beverages at the local watering hole.

How much do we remember of when we were young?

Is it pointless to put a lot of thought and time into making Christmas magical for small children?

Perhaps the magic is more for us than them.

It’s a memory tucked away somewhere in the back of our mind.

Recreating it brings the magic back.

And so, I’ve done the same with all of them.

Some Christmases have been hard financially and for a long period I was a single parent.

I dreaded the festive season, worried if I’d be able to make it magical on my own.

I drew on my childhood experiences, turning everything into an adventure.

Each Christmas was planned and prepped so my children would have core memories to carry into adulthood.

At the time it was about hoping I was doing it right.

I didn’t enjoy the season anymore and there was a lot of ‘fake it until you make it’ happening.

But they never knew that.

Now happily remarried, my second born son messaged me two weeks ago to say, “I love you mum and I’ve always appreciated the importance you’ve put into our birthdays and Christmas”.

He’s 23 now and lives in an apartment with his brothers.

We work hard to bring the magic of Christmas to our children and ofttimes that’s not an easy feat.

There’s no need for expensive gifts and big trips abroad.

I’d buy lots of little cheap gifts and wrap them up with ribbon.

There were beach picnics for Christmas day lunch.

Everything planned was designed to bring magic to them and give them happy memories.

The magic of Christmas is always there, children are the key to unlocking it.

Through some of my darkest days, the magic my sons brought to the home every December topped me up and kept me going.

Trials relabelled as adventures ensured I added the right amount of magic to their childhoods.

And in doing so, they added a whole lot of magic to mine as an adult.