The Hidden Work of Christmas: Keeping the Lights Shining

• Posted by Peony Magazine December 22, 2025 Filed in Other #Christmas  #PeonyMagazine  #christmas traditions  #Hidden Work of Christmas  #special edition  #the makers of magic  53 views
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  December, for me, was never about sparkly decorations. It was about the strange quiet in a house where my dad was often missing. He was a kind man, but he was always traveling for work or busy with his own things. During the holidays, he left a big empty space that my mother had to deal with alone.

  For a long time, his absence was just a normal part of life — an empty seat at the table. But in December, that gap felt huge. It threatened to ruin the whole holiday feeling. That’s when my older sister stepped in. She stopped being a grumpy teenager and quietly became the organizer of all our Christmas traditions.

  She is eight years older than me. The moment I realized she was making the magic, not Santa, was the moment I stopped being a kid and started learning from her.

  The Secret of the Practical Pile

  I was six when I noticed a big problem with our Santa operation. At my friends’ houses, gifts were beautifully piled up. At ours, the gifts were always sorted carefully. There was a practical pile (socks, books, school supplies) and a fun pile(toys and games).

  One year, Santa messed up. He put a new video game in the practical pile. My six-year-old brain knew this broke the North Pole’s rules.

  Later that night, after my mom went to sleep — tired from working and baking — I woke up to a soft clicking sound. I crept out and saw my sister near the tree. She was moving the video game from the practical pile to the fun pile.

  When she saw me, she didn’t lie. She just sighed and asked me to come closer. “He makes mistakes,” she whispered, meaning Santa. “He’s very old and rushing. Someone has to check his work, or everything falls apart.”

  She wasn’t protecting the Santa myth. She was confessing that she was the one secretly keeping it running. She gave me the secret not with a big speech, but by giving me a quiet job. She told me I had to make sure the ribbons on a new bike helmet were “ready for a fast sleigh ride.”

  This was more than just arranging gifts. It was the quiet work needed to fill the emotional hole left by our absent father. Our mother was there but stressed. My sister, though still a child herself, became the person who made our December feel stable.

  The Power of the Lights

  The work of making things look magical became the most important part of our December. It wasn’t just about Santa; it was about the lights.

  My father was supposed to put up the outdoor lights. When he didn’t show up, year after year, my sister did it. She was 14 the first time she climbed a shaky ladder in the freezing cold. She hung a small, lonely string of lights on the roof.

  It was hard, cold, and dangerous work. But she knew that the lights had to go up. They weren’t just decorations; they were a way of saying, “We are here.” It kept our house from looking dark and forgotten compared to the neighbours.

  As I grew up, my job changed. I went from checking ribbons to holding the lights, then plugging them in, and finally holding the ladder steady for her. We were two kids, often shivering, doing an adult job to show the world that our family, even if it wasn’t perfect, was still working hard to create beauty.

  The most important lesson I learned from her was this: Magic doesn’t just happen. You have to build it, with hard work and tools that aren’t always perfect.

  More: https://peonymagazine.com/special-edition/the-hidden-work-of-christmas/