"Can we do christmas baking now?" my daughter pleaded early one December when she was eight years old. "I just love it when the house smells like spice and cookies. It makes me feel like I'm in the Christmas spirit."
I knew just what she meant. There's something about the fragrance of baking—the care and love that go into it—that helps ease a person into "the season to be jolly." But at the same time, I had the dismayed thought: even at that age, does the Christmas spirit have to be coaxed?
Each year I hear people complain. "I just don't have the Christmas spirit yet." It's like some kind of magic they want to be hit by. After that, they'll be different. The world will be all sparkles and warm, toasty feeling. They wait for it, hoping this time lightning will strike. Often it doesn't, and the holiday—the holy day—feels like a letdown.
