For most of my life, I believed our little family could have stepped right out of a Hallmark movie. Hayden, my husband, still slips love notes into my coffee mug even after twelve years of marriage. Our daughter, Mya, asks the kind of questions that turn ordinary moments into little epiphanies\u2014questions about stars, reindeer, and why sandwiches are far superior to plain carrots. Life, with all its imperfections, felt magical because of them.<\/p>\n
Every December, I tried to capture that magic for Mya and hold it close, if only for a few weeks. One year, I transformed the living room into a snow globe, with cotton for snowdrifts and twinkling lights strung through the houseplants. Another year, we organized neighborhood caroling, with Mya front and center leading \u201cRudolph\u201d like a tiny conductor, her entire heart in every note. I thought I was the one creating the wonder\u2014but that Christmas taught me how wrong I was.<\/p>\n
That year, I had something special hidden under the tree: tickets to The Nutcracker, wrapped in shimmering golden paper. I could hardly wait to see her face when she opened them. All December, she bubbled with questions that made me pause and marvel at her mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do Santa\u2019s reindeer fly so long without getting tired?\u201d she asked one evening as we hung ornaments. For most of my life, I believed our little family could have stepped right out of a Hallmark movie. Hayden, my husband, still slips love notes into… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n\u201cEven magical reindeer must get sleepy,\u201d I replied.
\n\u201cBut maybe they\u2019d like sandwiches,\u201d she said earnestly. \u201cDaddy likes turkey, you like chicken. Even reindeer deserve choices.\u201dREAD MORE BELOW<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"