An unexpected magical moment

A few years ago, I had either been feeling extra jolly, or I had just had a nice glass of red. But either way, the result is that our Christmas card had the following message in it:

"Every day has a bit of magic to be found. Look for it. Believe in it. And treasure it always."

Well, here's the thing. It's sometimes rather difficult to look for magic in a day when you're busy yelling and looking for the one missing shoe that is going to make your kids miss the bus. Life is chaotic. Every day. All the time. And lately, with the rush of the holidays and the general mess that is life with children, I feel like I've lost my way from my original optimistic message.

My coping mechanism has been to sneak out of bed and down the stairs around six in the morning in an attempt to be somewhat productive until the house wakes up. I grade papers, or I make lunches, or sometimes - dare I say it - I just enjoy a quiet room. I may get thirty minutes. Sometimes I get a full, blessed hour. (This is when I hear the actual angels on high.)

So today, just as I sat down on the couch with a most glorious cup of coffee, I heard the creak of size 9 baby feet creeping down the stairs. Creak, creak, creak. And I cringed just a bit. I am ashamed to even admit it, but I did. Because I really just wanted to be left alone for one minute.

But then, just as I felt myself getting irritated, this happened:

He shuffled silently over, climbed right up, and lay his soft little head in my lap. The warmth of this little boy in pajamas filled me with so much love. Peace that was almost tangible settled on my shoulders and into my being, and I saw what it was all about. Over his head, I could see all of our family memories on this tree. The macaroni wreath of a preschooler, a baby handprint made as we held our little bundle, a popsicle stick snowflake that came home crammed into a backpack - all of these hold a moment frozen in time where our boys have handed these things to us with their chubby little hands and so much pride in their eyes. And this littlest boy with his littlest hands lay on me with trust and so much love, and I felt my heart grow in that moment.

In the end, I did nothing productive before we started our day, but I was every bit the better for it. Because this was today's bit of magic to be found. And I will treasure it always.