Believe

“We were dreamers not so long ago.

But one by one, we all had to grow up. 

When it seems the magic slipped away,

We find it all again on Christmas day.”

~from “Believe” by Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri

Everything they say about seeing Christmas through a child’s eyes is true — but I’d nearly forgotten. Now that there’s a little boy in my life again, I’ve been rereading The Polar Express aloud at bedtime and rediscovering the magic of flying reindeer and jingling sleigh bells.

Chris Van Allsberg’s award-winning picture book was published the year our son was born (1985) and was a holiday hit in our home in the early 1990s. I still feel a catch in my throat every time I read the part where the boy finds the lost sleigh bell in a small box under his Christmas tree.

Thanks to our young grandson, we’ve rekindled some old holiday traditions and started a few new ones. Polar Express marathons aside, we’ve toured the neighborhood Christmas lights and marveled at the brilliant holiday light displays at the Detroit Zoo. Elves and snowmen are back on the shelves throughout the house. And after years of absence, there’s a Christmas tree in our living room again. Friends who often think of me as “The Halloween Queen” are wondering which Dickensian ghost has gotten to me.

I hope you, too, are rekindling your sense of wonder, wherever you are. And I hope your “first gift of Christmas” is truly magical. ~Cindy La Ferle

*** I won’t be posting as often over the next week. In the meantime, you’re welcome to explore additional content on the “Life Lines” home page.