You had always wanted children with Taekwoon and you had known in the early stages of dating him that he’d make the perfect father. When you welcomed your daughter Sunhee into the world two years after marrying him, you knew you had made the right assumption. He was as attentive and proactive in his approach to parenting as you expected from him. You were a great team and because of this, you were certain that’s why it didn’t take long to get her into a good routine. Despite being first-time parents, you had everything under control.

Except on Christmas day.

On Sunhee’s first Christmas, she was only four months old. You had dreamed of this moment for years, of seeing the magic of your own childhood at this time of year being passed down to your daughter. The presents were packed up under the tree and you went to bed on Christmas Eve excited for the following morning.

Cut to the morning being in full swing with your family over, and a crying baby who wouldn’t settle because there was too much going on.

“She’s too young to remember it anyway,” Taekwoon reasoned, despite being disappointed as well. “She’ll love getting the toys one at a time as she progresses in age. There’s always next year.”

Sunhee had handled her first birthday’s festivities extremely well the following year, and you and Taekwoon had high hopes that this Christmas she would discover the magic of Santa. You read her books about him coming down the chimney, and you watched endless Christmas movies. She loved the Christmas tree so much that all the ornaments in her reach had to be shifted up and then the whole tree had to be placed up higher so she wouldn’t pull it down trying to reach for the lights.  

Christmas was looking promising this year.

“I’m so excited for her to have her first photo with Santa,” Taekwoon mentioned as you waited in line outside the Christmas grotto with Sunhee dressed in the cutest little sparkle dress. Taekwoon had insisted on Santa meeting a Christmas fairy today. What Santa didn’t expect was the fairy to scream and kick him in that giant belly full of jelly because he frightened her so much. You managed to get one semi-decent shot before you wrangled your child away from causing any further damage to Santa and sighed heavily as you approached Taekwoon and placed her back in her stroller.

“Have we scarred her in any way over Christmas?” you asked him as you headed back to the car and he shook his head.

“Apparently I liked Santa until I met him in person for the first time too. It’s common for kids to fear Santa; he’s a stranger after all. She’ll understand him next year. Besides, on Christmas day Santa has already been and gone. Sunhee will love opening her presents and celebrating with us properly this year.”

You were hopeful your doubts would be erased, but as you held onto your now screaming child and rocking her quietly in her bedroom away from the Christmas day happenings, you wondered if you would ever get to see her enjoy Christmas. Maybe you just had to accept that your childhood memories of the magical world your parents created for you were just not going to be enjoyed by your daughter.

You were prepared for her third Christmas. You went at her pace, letting Sunhee take her own interest in the spirit of the season. This was made easier by the fact that the arrival of her little brother Sunwoon had chilled you out some this year. You hadn’t realised just how much you had wanted to be Super Mum all the time with Sunhee. The balance of having two children and keeping your house afloat meant you didn’t set up the Christmas tree right away and it was actually Sunhee who mentioned it first.

“Where’s the tree?!” she asked with a pout, pointing to the Christmas movie playing on the TV. She then looked towards where you as a family would usually decorate it, and folded her little arms in a huff over her chest. And when Sunhee pursed her lips, you couldn’t help but chuckle. She was so much like Taekwoon at times.

“Mummy and Daddy didn’t want to put up the tree until you were ready for it. Would you like us to put it up when Daddy gets home from work?”

Her head w