By Jenny Albers 
For a mom, the Christmas season can be a lot of work. She plans. She shops. She cooks. She bakes. She decorates. She wraps. She works toward completing list after list of holiday-related tasks. She expends immeasurable quantities of physical and mental energy. But her kids? All they know is that she makes Christmas special.
Because it’s a mom who lays out ingredients for sugar cookies and makes baking and decorating them an event for her children. What kid doesn’t love licking frosting off spoons, making art out of spilled flour, and dining on a buffet of fancy holiday-themed sprinkles? And it all ends with cookies! Sure, it’s a mess, but for the kids it’s magic.
It’s a mom who gives the house its Christmas glow. She frames the windows in strands of mini-lights and drapes those mesmerizing bubble lights along the mantle. She wraps shiny garland around the tree, its metallic threads shimmering in the tangle of lights. She lights the Advent candles and reads a devotion as the flames flicker.
It’s a mom who budgets, shops for, and checks items off wish lists. She plays Santa, holding her children’s wishes and dreams close, and she keeps the best Christmas secrets. She sees the wonder in their eyes and knows their curiosity is so strong they might just burst. But she also knows nothing is more exciting than a surprise, and that anticipation makes for some of the best memories.
It’s a mom who realizes Christmas with kids doesn’t tend to look like it does in the catalogs and agrees to let her children arrange tree ornaments in their style, not hers. As the ornaments are hung, she shares the family history that goes with each one. This is the ornament given to me for my first Christmas. This is the ornament I bought for you the year you were born. This is the one for our baby in Heaven.
It’s a mom who arranges the nativity and explains the significance of each piece, each figure. She shares the ancient story of Christmas, how it all began with a baby. Yes, a baby, just like her children were, except this baby was different. This baby was the miracle of all miracles. This baby is why we celebrate Christmas at all.
It’s a mom who carries on traditions from her childhood and begins new traditions with her own children. Age-old cookie recipes. The Polar Express. Matching pajamas. Gingerbread houses. Elf on the Shelf. Classic Christmas movies year after year. Candlelight church services. A Christmas Eve gift. She knows these traditions offer her kids a winning combination of comfort and joy.
It’s a mom who takes care of all the holiday details—the things no one sees or even considers. At times it can be overwhelming, but she does it for her children. Because she knows her labor speaks love in a language her kids understand. They can see it and feel it, and even if they cannot verbalize it, they know what—and who—makes Christmas special for them.
In fact, she knows it too. In the sparse moments of quiet, the late-night glow of the Christmas tree, the sip of early-morning coffee in front of a frosty window, she knows it too. And she’s grateful.
by Laura Bailey 
