The holidays are in full swing... most of you should have already received our Christmas card and the big day is only 4 short weeks away... with Turkey Day behind us and the stores now into their extended holiday hours, some of the radio stations have switched to their non-stop rotation of Christmas music... though our tree has been up for quite some time, it didn't really feel like the season had arrived... I guess part of that comes with it still being warm enough to wear shorts... so to get our family into the spirit we are starting a new family tradition... we curled up on the couch and watched The Polar Express... nothing like the magic of Christmas touching the hearts of unbelievers... I remember reading the book years ago and part of the wonder of the season is how it perpetuates itself... we are brought up to believe in a generous man who brings presents to good little children everywhere... we parents often get to use this as a mild threat to keep the kids in line... especially in the age of cell phones and my children believe that Mommy is friends with everyone, including Santa... we hit a point in our lives where we no longer have that magic in our hearts and spread our disdain to our siblings and force our newfound truth on our classmates... but then something wondrous happens... we get to become Santa as we have children of our own... it comes full circle... we become the magic and take delight in watching their little faces light up as they get that one special item that they knew we would never buy for them... and so I'm hoping that my kids will be like that little boy on the Polar Express and will believe... we all should have a little magic in our lives...