Now that my daughter is 2½, this is the first year that she gets holidays in general. Halloween frightened her, and she wouldn't dress up or go around to visit the neighbors. Even the bribing of "free candy" didn't lure her, "Me no like Hawoween," she would say.

But Christmas is different, because the treats come to us … via the chimney.

My creative side is excited with mythic energy, and I am having a great time. She has watched enough Xmas shows (donated from her cousins) that she has the concepts down-- Odin, er... Santa, flies through the air and comes down the chimney to deliver presents to the little girls who don't throw tantrums and try to use the potty.

I've just been plying those images to the familiar. We wrote a letter to Santa-- "What do you want Santa to bring you?" I asked.

"Popcone!" Hmm... a little unorthodox, but why shouldn't Santa bring popcorn. At least it is something that won't end up with all the other plastic toys in her box.

After signing it (and drawing various lines on it), we placed it on the mantel, so that when Santa comes down, he'll read the letter, leave the presents under the tree, eat the cookies and soy milk (Santa is now lactose intolerant nowadays), and go back up the chimney.

But that isn't all. I'm planning on stuffing a present up the chimney so that she can open it up later in the day with the excuse that it looks like Santa dropped this on his way out. I may also put a sleigh-bell or two in the fireplace as if the reindeer dropped them.

Oh, I'm loving this.

Sure I would love to explain to my daughter that the reason why we put up the tree isn't because it looks pretty or that it will attract Santa (although that's not too bad a reason), but that it symbolizes Yggdrasil, the tree that supported the heavens and connected our world with the divine world where Odin lives … essentially the north pole.

But the fact remains that she is only two and not majoring in mythology at college,

Why do I like this trickery? While I've discussed a bit of this before, I love keeping traditions alive (and making new ones), but also I'm trying to get that imagination and inspiration going. You bet that there are fairies in my backyard and trolls in the toolshed. Whatever she comes up with, will be fostered by her dad.

Someday I'll show her how to work the magic … maybe by letting her put a present or two up the chimney or a sleigh-bell in the fireplace. And teaching her this sort of magic will not only be a rite of passage, but also a demonstration on how to use magic in her own creative life.