With the holidays fast approaching, I find myself extremely contemplative on what…well, how should I say it…perhaps what my Christmas wish is this year. Yeah, that’s got a nice magical ring to it. Yup, I totally believe in magic! Not necessarily hocus pocus and the wand and all, but I do believe our hearts create moments that sparkle with magic. I am a sappy mom who loves moments in the living room with my kiddos in their matching Christmas pajamas. However, this year I am learning that in order for me to keep that magic alive, I have to learn to flow with this life. Ya see, I am a mom of four who worked to establish some organization within the chaos. Each kid had a color added to their identity, starting with their toothbrush, towel, backpacks, headphones and eventually their scheduled events on the calendar. So while I have blogs of kids eating off the floor, swirling toothbrushes in the toilet, streaking through the back yard, and getting left at the school numerous times(simply because I forgot to pick them up), I did have some organization in their lives. I was really good at using a color-coded system and I could create the best “magical” family moments!!! Well, needless to say, as much as “scheduling” magic used to one of my great gifts, the dynamic of our home has changed so much these past few years. The Holiday themes of, “Keep the baby from tearing off the ornaments!”, “Survive decorating cut out cookies with toddlers”, and “Why did I spend all that money on a toy when he really just wanted the box” are but an exhausting, yet cute memory.     Now that I am no longer the schedule dictator and my kids have responsibilities beyond brushing their teeth, making their bed and feeding the fish, I am realizing that CREATING magical moments is getting a bit more complicated. The first weekend in December I planned to clean the house, decorate the tree, and decorate cookies… um, as a family, mind you. Sparkly house, sparkly tree…and yes, sparkly magic. Midway through the day, everyone’s schedules were going everywhere and gosh darn it if I wasn’t cranky. Yup, CRANKY! I could feel the years of “Young Kid Christmases” had past and “Old Kid Christmases” future was looking complicated and less magical. Just about the time I wanted to scream… EVERYONE IS RUINING CHRISTMAS, the day was coming to a close and “magically” everyone began to assemble in the living room, the music was humming(the house was “mostly” clean and the ornaments were going up. My older boys couldn’t care less if we ever had a tree again, but there they were hanging ornaments and refraining from making fun of my Christmas music, pretty much just for me. It was at that moment that I realized I needed to cherish the memories, trust the future would work itself out and simply see the magic in the present. Yup, despite the fact that I made all my kids sign a sworn statement saying they would never grow up… well, they did! And as it turns out… I still like them. So I am glad I didn’t totally ruin that night with my crankiness. It was in that moment I had to challenge myself to let go of my expectations of exactly how I thought the day should go and decide what was the most important wish for me this holiday season, and that is time with my kids before they are all grown up juggling their own chaotic family schedule. I want to enjoy my heart connecting with theirs. I want to love all the minutes and milestones as they come. So when I can’t create what I deem to be the “perfect” magical moment, I can let the MOMENTS be perfectly magical.