As a mom of three teens, ages 14 to 18, I’ve had my share of years as the bringer of holiday magic. While I never welcomed the Elf on the Shelf into our home (no regrets), I did pretty much every other holiday tradition, including festive train rides and mall photos with Santa.
In the years when my kids were young, the weekends between Thanksgiving and New Year’s were packed with holiday activities, leaving me exhausted and counting the days until they went back to school in January. The elation of Santa’s arrival was paired with too-early wakeups and too many presents to assemble late at night. I loved seeing the joy in their eyes when they opened that LEGO set or butterfly-growing kit, but man, it was exhausting.
Then came the tween years, which had me begging for someone — anyone — to join me on our annual drive through the neighborhood to look for the best holiday lights. These were the years when everything seemed like forced family fun, and I had to resort to heavy bribery (or light threats) to get anyone to come along.
Courtesy of Kate Loweth
My teens have come back around
It was only in the last year or so that I’ve seen a change in my kids. It started with my 18-year-old daughter planning a trip to the pumpkin patch with her high school friends. I had resigned myself to grocery-store pumpkins the last few years, as nobody seemed excited to make the effort to visit the pumpkin patch (and I wasn’t paying pumpkin-patch prices for grumpy kids). When my daughter mentioned that she and a few friends were going to the pumpkin patch on a Friday night, I was surprised but secretly excited, because who doesn’t love wholesome teen activities?
Then, when I wasn’t immediately busy decorating our house for Christmas after Thanksgiving, my 14-year-old son took it upon himself to hang the stockings and decorate the tree. My middle kid put up the outdoor Christmas lights without any adult prompting or assistance. Then, after skipping the nearby drive-thru lights experience for many years, the kids asked if we’d be going this year. Immediate yes.
Courtesy of Kate Loweth
Passing on the holiday magic
These festive activities, which once felt optional and even embarrassing to my kids, now seem to matter to them once again. While there’s nothing like those early years with kids who are all in on Santa and his holiday magic, I’m finding a different kind of joy in this stage. I love watching my teenagers take it upon themselves to fill our house with the holiday spirit, not because I asked them to, but because they wanted to.
For years, I carried the responsibility of creating holiday magic. Now I see that letting go made room for something better. As my kids inch closer to leaving the nest, I love seeing them bring new life to our family traditions.