On the way to school this morning, my tween starting talking about “Santa”

She shared with me that what her friends at school were saying (you know, that the “big guy” isn’t real)

She asked me what I thought?

I told her that I believe in all sorts of magic. I believe that we don’t necessarily need to see things to feel that they might be real.

We talked about how some things are there for us to discover, and analyze and understand every little piece of it, but with magic, the only thing you need to do is believe.

We also talked about how, even if we didn’t believe in a certain thing, it was never fair to try and change other peoples feelings about it. That if someone else did believe in something, then we should let them have that (even if we thought we knew better)

We agreed that the world is better for magic, real or not. That magic is there to allow us to escape into our imaginations and trust, and have hope and believe in the impossible.

And then, my beautiful daughter asked about the Easter Bunny.

Before I could respond, she answered the question herself.

She said “Mom, of course the easter bunny is real. Where would he have found those cute chocolate bunnies in the wooden cages on Salt Spring?”

Yes, she is a believer for a little while longer. And I am going to allow the magic to continue, and be there for her when it ends. Because if kids ask about Santa at Christmas, you know you are dangerously close to it ending.

And this coming year I will remember how important it is to go off island to find some fancy chocolate for Easter, just to keep the magic alive.