We’re told to abandon childish beliefs as we grow up. But letting go of Santa might mean letting go of something else, too: the whimsy that makes the holidays feel magical.

“Every week, a month before Christmas, we light a candle in our house to anticipate the coming of Christ,” Mackenzie said. “It is a fun tradition that we do to point the meaning back to the real reason of Christmas.”

Compared to those days as a fourth-grader when all I wanted was an American Girl doll that looked like me and good hot chocolate at the last-day-of-school party, there was something lackluster about Christmas as a teenager.