Every December, something quietly magical happens.

We start wishing.

Kids wish for bikes, puppies, and things with batteries.
Adults pretend they don’t wish, but somehow still hope for peace, less stress, better conversations, or maybe just one holiday gathering that doesn’t require emotional recovery time.

We hang stockings.
We whisper hopes.
We negotiate with the universe like seasoned diplomats.

And yet… have you ever noticed how Christmas wishes rarely come true the way we picture them?

That perfect morning?
The harmonious family dinner?
The sense of “Ahhh… this is it”?

Sometimes they show up.
Often they don’t.
And occasionally, they arrive disguised as something completely different.

Which makes me wonder…

Are Christmas wishes broken?

Or are we misunderstanding how they work?

Here’s a gentle thought, offered with a side of tinsel and a wink.

Most wishes aren’t really about things. They’re about how we want to feel.

When a child wishes for a bike, they’re really wishing for freedom.
When we wish for a quieter holiday, we’re wishing for ease.
When we wish for everyone to “just get along,” we’re wishing for connection.

The wish isn’t wrong.
But the delivery system might not be as predictable as Amazon Prime.

The Inside-Out Plot Twist

Here’s the part that sneaks up on us.

We tend to believe:

“If the circumstances line up just right, I’ll finally feel the way I want to feel.”

But experience has a mischievous way of showing us the opposite.

Sometimes the house is loud and chaotic… and we suddenly feel warmth and love anyway.
Sometimes the gifts are perfect… and we still feel restless.
Sometimes nothing changes on the outside… and something softens on the inside.

That’s usually when the real wish comes true.

Not because life behaved.
But because thought quieted down long enough for something deeper to show up.

Clarity.
Gratitude.
Laughter that wasn’t planned.
A moment of peace you didn’t schedule.

Those don’t arrive wrapped.
They arrive when we’re not chasing them.

Why Christmas Wishes Feel So Fragile

The holidays stir memory, expectation, and meaning into one gleaming snow globe.

Shake it, and everything looks urgent and important.

This has to be special.

We have to get it right.

This should feel better than it does.

But snow globes only look chaotic while they’re shaken.

When we stop shaking them, the scene settles all by itself.

That’s usually when we notice:

“Oh… this moment is already okay.”

So… Do Christmas Wishes Come True?

Yes.
Just not on our timeline.
Not in our packaging.
And not because we earned them by being extra good this year.

They come true when we realize we were never waiting on life to change.
We were waiting for our mind to quiet.

And the beautiful irony?

That quiet often arrives right in the middle of imperfect dinners, awkward conversations, and crooked Christmas trees.

Which makes me think…

As I sit with all of this, two songs keep playing quietly in the background. River and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Neither of them tries to fix Christmas. They don’t promise perfection or insist on cheer. One gently admits the wish to skate away from it all. The other offers a tender hope that togetherness will come, if the fates allow. In their own way, they both seem to understand something we often forget this time of year.

I would love to give you peace, love, and happiness. But I can’t… because those gifts are already yours. They were given to you a long time ago.

So my Christmas wish for you is simpler than that.

That you find yourself in peace.
That you find yourself in love.
That you find yourself in happiness.

And if, or when, you do… rest there.

There is nothing more you need to do.