Christmas cheer

TOMORROW it is Christmas.

I love Christmas. I love that Santa visits our house and that there is anticipation of his arrival. Most of all, I love that our house is enveloped in the magic and innocence of the season where miracles are possible and there is excitement in the air.

But Christmas magic doesn’t just happen — there is much effort and energy that goes into making it magical.

For our family — and much to the disgust of two of my three children — December in my car involves the constant and unremitting playing of Christmas carols.

There are no Spotify ‘Bangers of 2019’ lists played but there is Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole and three different versions of The 12

Days of Christmas. Mariah, Buble and the not as well known but truly wonderful Neil Diamond Christmas album all feature heavily.

Daggy but glorious Christmas playlists do not create themselves, they require work and dedication. They also require you to withstand the constant complaining of your children for 25 days.

For many families, part of the anticipation of Christmas Day is the arrival of their family elf who sits on a shelf every day from the 1st of December until Christmas Day.

The elf lives with the family and listens to whether the children are naughty or nice in the month of December and reports back to Santa each night.

Each morning when the elf returns from the North Pole it hides in a new place in the house and every morning starts with a game of hide-and-seek to find the elf.

Assisting the elf to do its job of travelling to the North Pole each night and ensuring that it returns to a different place each morning is a big job with little room for error in the busiest 25 days of the year.

At many primary schools in the month of December, a Kris Kringle will be organised in each class. There are cryptic clues given multiple times a week about who your Kris Kringle is, and lollies or treats left with the clues.

The clues often require parental guidance or assistance. One of the Grade 3 mums had me doubled over laughing when telling me that it had taken her 20 minutes to convince her child that a clue that said “Your KK is not Paul*” was not a great clue when the KK actually was Paul.

(* real name has been changed to protect the innocent!)

Christmas traditions take work and planning. They require you to remember them and create them in the same way each year.

Part of our Christmas tradition that I love is our family watching Carols by Candlelight tonight.

While Christmas carols are being sung, our nine-year-old, Georgia, will fuss over what to leave out for Santa and his reindeer. She will do internet research on what are the favourite foods of Santa’s reindeers and then there will be a panic as we don’t have the wild grasses and berries they require.

Luckily the internet advises that carrots are a reindeer ‘sometimes food’, and what better night for a ‘sometimes food’ than their busiest night of the year.

Reindeer ‘ sometimes food’ is often accompanied by a ‘ sometimes beverage’ for Santa, which is well deserved after the culmination of a busy Christmas period. It may be milk and a piece of shortbread.

In one friend’s house, though, Santa is left a Pimms and dry in a highball glass, filled with ice and garnished with an orange slice. When delivering to their house, Santa has very specific needs!

The tween and teenager in our house will purport to suffer through the obligatory watching of Carols by Candlelight. They will be distracted by their technology while they watch but I know I will catch them involuntarily singing Jingle Bells or Hark the Herald Angels Sing and I know that deep down they love the tradition of all of us watching and singing and just enjoying Christmas Eve.

Whatever your Christmas tradition, no matter how simple or elaborate, it will take work, planning and commitment. The work is worth it. For long after the wrapping hits the recycling bin, it will be the magic of the season that remains in the hearts and minds of those you love the most and you will have helped to create that magic for them.

Rachel Schutze is a principal lawyer at Gordon Legal, wife and mother of three. [Ed’s note: Ms Schutze is married to Corio MP Richard Marles].