I always thought we were one of those Hallmark families\u2014Hayden still tucks notes in my mug, and our daughter, Mya, fills the house with questions that make the world new again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every December, I tried to bottle magic for her. One year I turned the living room into a snow globe; last year she led the carolers in \u201cRudolph.\u201d This Christmas, I hid Nutcracker tickets under the tree, eager for her surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the days before, she was full of wonder. While we hung ornaments, she asked, \u201cDo Santa\u2019s reindeer get sleepy? Maybe they need sandwiches instead of carrots.\u201d At the mall, she told Santa exactly that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christmas Eve was perfect\u2014lights on the house, ham in the oven, Mya spinning in her red dress. We tucked her into Rudolph pajamas by eight. At 2 a.m., I noticed her door ajar. The bed was empty. My keys were gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then Hayden found a note under the tree. In careful letters, Mya had written to Santa, offering blankets and sandwiches for the reindeer in the abandoned house across the street. She even left my car keys \u201cjust in case.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heart pounding, I rushed over. Behind the bushes, bundled in scarves and blankets, she smiled up at me. \u201cThe reindeer can nap here,\u201d she whispered. I held her close, gathered her things, and carried her home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the morning, she discovered a letter from Santa thanking her for the blankets and sandwiches\u2014especially the veggie ones for Vixen. She squealed with joy, then unwrapped her Nutcracker tickets, her mouth forming a perfect O.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That day, I realized I didn\u2019t need to stage all the wonder. Mya had created her own magic\u2014kindness disguised as Christmas, lighting our house from the inside out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I always thought we were one of those Hallmark families\u2014Hayden still tucks notes in my mug, and our daughter, Mya, fills the house with questions that make… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2991,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"views":804,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2990"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2992,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2990\/revisions\/2992"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}