By Jessica Guerrieri

Hurry! It’s time to stand in line for hours so a jolly stranger can hold our crying kids. What are the holidays without a #santafail social media post?

But, really, having children during December is actually kind of spectacular. (It’s the other 11 months when things can get dicey.) If there is a holiday-themed park, tree lot, or reindeer sleigh within a 15-mile radius of our house, we are so there! My three little elves believe in the magic of Christmas so much that if I didn’t know any better I, too, would swear that a fat man is going to scoot down my chimney.

This year, we’ve jumped right into the holidaze, as I like to call them. Though things rarely have gone according to plan, of course. When we headed to our local Boy Scout tree lot, we aimed to get one 10-foot tree. But, instead, we found ourselves with a 12-foot tree, and three 4-foot trees that my girls hauled off the lot all by themselves. Incidentally, the girls’ new favorite game is “How many pine needles can we shove up each other’s noses before sneezing them out?” So far, they’ve made it to five.

We also ventured out to a Christmas tree lighting and candlelight parade. Call me over-protective, but I assumed everyone would be using flameless candles. When we arrived in our matching flannel jammies, I noticed a 9-month-old holding a very real candle next to my highly flammable children. I guess that’s why the fire department is featured in the parade.

Besides escaping Christmas parades with our lives, we also like to make sugar cookies. We have decorated no less than a dozen every day for the past seven days. And—guess what?—I learned that the fastest way to get my girls to eat broccoli is to pretend it’s a “tiny tree” and put “snow” (aka frosting) on it.

Yes, cookie baking taught me that the unexpected can actually be a treat. And so did our visit to the Tree Farm, where we were riding to Santa’s workshop in a sleigh pulled by horses dressed up as reindeer. Trying to chase away the chill of the wind, the girls leaned in close and grabbed hold of each other, their baby sister snuggled between them. Without prompting, each of them planted a kiss on their littlest sibling. My heart exploded with so much love I almost didn’t remember to remind Santa that we belong on the Nice List.

The holidaze are crazy, it’s true. But when things don’t go our way, remember there’s plenty of magic to be had, like learning the many uses of pine needles, that frosting is a parental ally, and that we don’t need a holiday to make our love for our children burn as bright as the Christmas star.  

Jessica Guerrieri is a mom and a freelance writer/blogger. Find her at witandspitup.com and on Instagram @witandspitup.