Christmas time is in full swing around here. The tree’s up and Christmas music is playing round the clock. I feel like it hit us early this year and by December 24th, I may be over it. Ready to tear things down the day after Christmas. But right now, it’s pretty magical.
One of my favorite events, so far, was an outing with family at Snowflake Lane in Bellevue. It wasn’t Snowflake Lane that was my favorite, because to be honest, I could make it through the Christmas season just fine without watching a bunch of drummers play offbeat to a recording. But this event was wonderful because Josie thought it was amazing. We all showed up riding in different cars and we hadn’t met up with everyone yet, so it was just Andy, Josie and me.
We walked down the street, in the pouring rain, being greeted by a mouse, then a polar bear, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, and next a penguin. With each new character Josie’s eyes lit up as she ran to hug them and get a picture. I would have stood through 10 subpar Christmas drummers drumming just to keep watching her face light up. She wasn’t bothered by the rain and cold. She was living in the moment and loving every last bit of it.
Josie didn’t care that the drummers were off beat. She wasn’t annoyed with the jingle bell dancers who couldn’t remember which way to start their kicks. It was all new and exciting so she was just drinking it in.
Oh to be 5 years old again and see every bit of lights, tinsel and song as pure magic.
