Christmas may be my favorite holiday. What I love about it is all of the excitement and joy the season can bring. However, as an empty nester, I have wondered how the holiday season would be.

This is a topic my husband and I discussed in December. Is Christmas as joyful when you don’t have young children anymore? We haven’t had young children in quite some time, but as all of ours are basically on their own now, we pondered Christmas with adult children.

I understand on a basic level that some of the magic has changed. No longer are we writing letters to Santa, reading holiday books at bedtime, or decorating cookies to be set out on Christmas Eve. However, there are new things to experience with our adult children.

There still are stockings and presents to start our Christmas Day. Then there are new things, such as games played with much laughter during the afternoon. Instead of a bedtime story, there’s a special cocktail had in front of the tree while we sit together and talk.

No, these aren’t the Christmas joys of younger children, but they’re still joys had with family. That’s what makes it magical: time together.

I know that at some point in the future both distance and schedules may make celebrating Christmas together a difficult task. I won’t despair. I’ll just need to find a new way to keep the magic alive.

With creativity and thoughtfulness, my hope is to always have magic at Christmas no matter where, when, or how we celebrate.