It was left to my wife to break the bad news. 

Our boy was sitting patiently in the back of the car and as we made our way across town, she gently asked him about the letter which we’d just discovered he’d written to Santa. 

“When did you write it?” She asked. 

“A couple of weeks ago. I didn’t tell you, cos it was going straight to Santa.” 

“Fair call. Good thinking. Who helped you do it?”  

“My Kaiako... my teacher.” 

“And... um... What did you ask for?” 

“Oh, nothing major,” he said. “The standard. A Rubik’s cube. Some stuff for his Beyblade spinning tops. Oh, and you know... a dog.” 

“A dog?” Asked mum. 

“Two dogs,” replied our boy. “So, they’ll always have someone to play with even when I’m at school.” 

Nothing stokes the magic of Christmas like watching it through kids’ eyes. Nothing kills your dream of two new pet dogs like Mum gently explaining that Santa called her on the phone from an unknown number to double-check the pets would be ok... and unfortunately, our family just isn’t in a position where we can have two new dogs, this year.  

What am I looking forward to this Christmas? I’m looking forward to watching his face when we finally let him loose on the non-canine gifts sitting there, tantalising and mysterious, under the Christmas tree.  

I’m looking forward to cracking the click-clack Tupperware and hoeing into my mum’s Christmas baking. I’m looking forward to knocking around on guitars, cold drinks in the summer twilight, and turning off all of the notifications on my phone.  

I’m looking forward to meeting my new nephew, baby Freddie, for the first time. I’m looking forward to playing with his older brother and sister, who are at the age where all they want to do is a bit of rough and tumble. We’ll play Jonah – an old favourite where I crouch on one side of the lounge, and they try to run past me and score an imaginary try on the couch, only for me to pick them up and tackle them to the carpet. My nephew will no doubt ask me to string him like a pig... holding him from the ankles and dangling him upside down. A great way to wind up a four-year-old just before bed. 

This is our last show morning for 20203. It’s been a year. For me, 2023 started for me with a 2000km road trip across South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Mozambique, and is ending in Nelson. We’ve had an election. Natural disasters. Wars. World Cups. Somewhere in there, I asked my partner to marry me.  

For me, this time of year is when we bank all of that. A time to exhale. To reconnect, reset, recharge and go again. And for all the peripheral stress, nothing else comes close.  

Dogs or no dogs, I love Christmas.