10 Ways to Bring Back the Magic of Christmas

Watch your favourite cartoon or musical

Look forward to it, make yourself comfortable in your favourite seat, meet it with the excitement you would meet an old friend. Rediscover scenes and lines you have forgotten. Identify yourself with the action and the characters. Cry and laugh with them. Live every moment with intensity.

Try to recreate a smell or a taste

We all associate Christmas with certain smells and tastes. Filtered through time, they become stronger and stronger, and somehow haunting. Whether it’s the smoke from the chimney, the baked bread, the Christmas pudding or the smell of the Christmas tree, it is enough to bring back to life a whole world in an instant. Try to recreate, savour its richness and all the memories it brings.

Go carol singing

If you have done it before, you know it’s part of the magic. If you haven’t, better late than never. Try to grasp its real significance. You have been sent on a very special mission: to bring people the good news, to let them know there is hope, that we are not lost and abandoned in this world. You are God’s messenger. It should be both a joy and a privilege.

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Imagine the scene of Jesus’ birth

Try to see it in your mind, in every detail. Travel with Joseph and Mary on their way to Bethlehem. Imagine their garments, their gestures, their conversations. The musicality of the language they are speaking. Imagine the busy inn, with all its lights and travellers inside. Mary’s discomfort, as the time of giving birth draws near. The “room where the animals were kept” as Luke describes it. Its strange smells, its unconventional cosiness. The wrapped little baby, sleeping in the manger. The shepherds disturbed from their usual activities, the wise men coming from the East, the star that wasn’t there a while ago. Try to recreate the local colour, to feel the fragrance of the past turning into present.

Decorate the Christmas tree

Don’t buy a Christmas tree that’s already decorated. It might be easier, but it kills the magic. Decorate it yourself and enjoy every moment of it.

Enjoy the snow

If you are lucky enough to live in a place where it snows, make the best of it. Play with snowballs, make a snowman, go on a sleigh ride, let the snowflakes fall upon your nose.

Think this could be your last Christmas

It could be true. Nobody knows what the future brings and when it’s all over. An instant is enough to change everything. Live in the light of this life-changing truth. Enjoy the gift of life as long as you can. After all, it’s the best present you’ll ever get for Christmas.