Anyway, it got me thinking, about Christmas, and goals and dreams, and wondering, when do we decide to stop believing?
When I was about 6 or 7 I saw my Dad creep into my room and do a stocking swap. I was so disappointed, yet I told myself that he was probably commissioned to help Santa (well my 6 year old brain probably didn't come up with the word 'commissioned' but you get my point), and it's because I wanted to continue to believe. As a teenager, I was sure I heard sleigh bells when walking home one Christmas Eve, even though I knew deep down it couldn't be true. Then as an adult I realised that there really is a Lapland, and Santa does live there...but more importantly, I realised that the magic is within us.
Mums and Dads create the magic of Christmas for their children because they want their children to have something magical to believe in, and we do. But actually strip it all back, and as children, what we actually believe in is our parents, and in the things they provide that we can't see, like love....and magic. And once a year we give it a name and we call him Santa.
But what happens when we no longer believe in Santa, does that mean we stop believing in love, in our parents? Do we decide then that magic doesn't exist? That dreams can't come true? Or do we wait until someone rejects us, or when an idea doesn't work or when someone comes into school and tells us we need a plan B?
To be a human being is a magical experience and a miracle in itself, we can choose to notice that, or we can get consumed by the expense and stress of Christmas-time. We can embrace the season of goodwill to all men, or we can look at everything we don't have (yet).
It is your choice to believe, and when you decide to believe in you, that's when the magic really happens. Remember this though, whatever you learn, you teach. Think about it.
So to end, I hope you had a magical Christmas and I wish that all your dreams come true in 2014.