The Magic of Christmas

Once upon a time, perhaps not even that long ago, there was a little fairy responsible for bringing Christmas to a small town somewhere in the world. Where was this town? What was its name? Nobody can recall, or if they can, they have not shared it with me. 

The little fairy got ready to deliver Christmas to the town again. She prepared her magical bag full of Christmas cheer and love and left to start the preparations for the festivities. She stopped at the shops and the houses to deliver some of the Christmas magic, leaving small reminders of the holiday from her bag everywhere. 

It was close to Christmas, but she felt that something was off. She could not find what was wrong. The decorations were there; the presents were all prepared, the mulled wine smelled divine on the Christmas fair, and you could hear Christmas carols everywhere. She could not even complain about the lack of snow. After many winters without a flake of snow, snow has been drizzling for days. But something was still amiss. The magic of Christmas was much paler than usual. Young and old just run around buying presents, preparing for Christmas dinners, or planning grand parties. But nobody cared about the true meaning of Christmas, as if people have forgotten about it in their busy lives. 

The fairy got confused, so she investigated. With her fairy magic, she turned into a young girl to mix with the townspeople, to learn what was wrong, where the Christmas spirit disappeared. 

Where else could she start than in the Christmas market itself? She looked around and watched the rushing people. They barely looked around anymore. She tried to find out what had changed, causing this big difference in the Christmas spirit. 

She wanted to ask some people about the holiday, but the answer was immediate. 

"Excuse me—" she tried to stop the first person. 

"Not interested."

She tried again with a young couple. 

"Sorry, would you mind—" 

"We are not buying anything," grumbled the man. 

She did not give up and tried to speak with a couple of other people. She could only learn that people were in their little worlds, not paying attention to anyone else. 

‘I have to do something,’ decided the fairy, and she already knew where to start. 

Like all Christmas fairies, she had her agents all around the town, who helped her every year to deliver Christmas. 

First, she visited the young man at the Christmas fair, who prepared personalized Christmas baubles and other ornaments. He was tinkering with a pretty bauble, painting it for a smiling young boy excitedly babbling about the holiday. The fairy watched the pair with pleasure. 

‘This is how things should be,’ she thought. The magic of Christmas just shone from the bauble to the child, like the candlelight in a dark room. And the child was already shining, ready to share the Christmas magic himself. 

In a couple of minutes, the little boy left with his prize, to pass on the spirit of Christmas to everyone he would meet, and the fairy asked her agent, 

"How is the market this year?"

The man smiled, recognizing the fairy, and answered honestly, 

"It is ok. More downcast, I guess. Much fewer people than usual. People just want to get through the holiday in one piece. The last couple of years were trying for them." 

The fairy nodded, thanked her agent, and continued to visit her next agent. 

Close to the gate of the Christmas market, a cheery old man with a real white beard dressed as Santa Claus gave a young, smiling couple a Christmas candy.

Suddenly a little boy freeing himself from his mother ran to Santa. The man took out a shiny wrapped candy from his red bag and gave it to the excited child, who took it with a bright smile and hugged his leg. He looked around, took a handful of candies from the bag, and gave them to the little boy with a conspiratorial wink. 

The child ran back to her fast-approaching mother. He was shining with pure Christmas magic all along, not caring about the harsh words he received for running away. In the end, her mother just had to smile, shaking her head, when the boy gave her one candy. 

The little fairy stepped to Santa next, 

"Hello, my friend. Everything going well?" 

Her agent recognized her magic shining through her disguise and nodded. 

"Fewer people," he replied. "And most of them rush so much that I still have most of the candy in my bag. More people are out than before when they had to stay home, but it is not like usual." 

The fairy thanked him and walked away after she received a Christmas candy herself. 

She visited a couple of other agents: the old teacher from the first school, who always made sure, the whole school shone with Christmas year, the postman, who visited everyone with the holiday wishes, and who had a good world for even lonely people, the young man who always dressed Christmas sweaters as soon as the holiday season arrived, the woman, who left a Christmas surprise for everyone in her office. Even the morose photographer in the supermarket was doing his best to help her with his business. She mostly received the same answers from everyone. Her agents were doing everything to share the Christmas magic as usual. 

However, she soon realized that one agent was missing this time from the fair. One important agent, who always made the holiday just a tad bit more special for all the people she met. 

A little old lady was always out in the streets at this time of the year. Even if it was freezing, it never bothered her too much. When the Christmas fairy asked her once, she said, 

"At least I am not alone in my flat, right?" 

She never had much, but she wanted to share it with others every year. She baked the best gingerbread cookies the entire city has ever tasted and visited the Christmas market with a basketful of them every day from the morning to late afternoon. The cookies were soft and beautiful and tasted like home and love. She was never selling them, just giving them to people for a smile. When someone gave her something in return, she thanked it but never asked for anything. 

When the Christmas fairy could not find the old lady, she decided to investigate. She flew to the other side of town, where the old lady lived alone, and found the small flat in minutes because it was the only one with a Christmas decoration on the door. 

It was dark inside, and nobody opened the door when the fairy knocked. She tried to look in the window but could see no one moving around. She waited a few minutes and was about to leave with a sad sigh. 

Suddenly, a young woman with a tiny girl, perhaps around four years old, stepped into the corridor from where the old lady lived. The woman seemed sad but determined. 

When they passed her, the Christmas fairy stopped them, 

“Excuse me, sorry to bother you. I wanted to visit my good friend, living here. Do you know what happened to her?” 

The young woman replied. 

“Sorry to be the one to tell the bad news. She passed away just a few days ago. It is the first I came here because the little one wanted to see where my grandmama lived.” 

The fairy understood. The little old lady could not bake her cookies this year. 

“We were her only relatives. We live far away but came home to visit her so she could meet with her great-granddaughter. It was too late.” 

The Christmas fairy offered her condolences and decided to say goodbye and leave. She did not want to bother them with her problem. Suddenly the duller Christmas spirit did not seem as important anymore. 

She was about to do that when the girl asked. 

“Would you like to come inside to chat? If you were her friend, I am sure she would be happy to know you visited. She was always so lonely since the family moved far away.” 

They stepped into the empty flat together. It was still neat and warm, even though nobody had opened the door in the last couple of weeks.

It was clear that the old lady had prepared for Christmas. She had decorated a small plastic tree and had put it next to the window in the living room with a few presents under the shiny ornaments. 

The young woman and the fairy sat in the small living room, while the little girl decided to investigate everything, leaving the presents under the tree for last. The fairy listened to the woman’s story about keeping in touch as much as possible. It was hard several time zones away from your only living relative. 

“Mommy, mommy,” shouted the little girl from the kitchen. 

The young mother immediately went there to investigate what had happened. The fairy followed her. 

The pair found something beautiful when the little girl pointed at the kitchen table. Her grandmother still had the time to prepare the first bunch of gingerbread cookies. They were one by one packed in a large wicker basket wrapped in small bags. Her grandmother’s handwritten gingerbread cookie recipe was next to the neatly arranged ingredients for the next bunch. The fairy believed even those without fairy magic could see the pure Christmas magic shining from the basket.  

“Cookies!” said the child in an excited voice, and her mother chuckled. 

“Yes, grandmama loved her cookies. They are the best!” 

The woman took out two neatly packaged cookies and gave one to each. The child immediately opened it to taste it. After that, she picked up the recipe. The fairy realized that all was not lost, because the old lady wrote a note on the paper, 

‘Make it with love and share it with everyone for the Christmas magic to glow.’ 

The young mother smiled and told her child and the fairy, 

“Grandmama always told me that this cookie is the best if she shared them with everyone. She went to town and gave it to every townspeople she had met. When I was little, sometimes I went with her around Christmas. It was always beautiful.” 

The child got excited. 

“Let’s go to town! Do what grandmama did!” 

The cookies were too good not to share, so the young woman decided, why not? It is what her grandmother would have wanted to do. 

They all went to the Christmas market with warm smiles to remember the old lady following her tradition. The townspeople had not realized that they missed the cookies of the old lady, but when it was back again, they were so glad. Some people even asked for some more to take home to their family, friends, or just for themselves. The young mother enjoyed picking up the tradition of her grandmother. She could tell that her daughter loved sharing the Christmas spirit just as much as she did when she was little.

It did not take long for the Christmas spirit to shine as brightly as ever. The Christmas fairy could not believe that a small thing had so much effect. She decided to keep her eyes on the small family for the next Christmas.