I miss the magic of being a kid.

Each holiday was like an adventure.

From Easter to Halloween and especially Christmas, there was so much to do and look forward to — each unique to the holiday and filled with magic and possibilities.

When we were younger, there was nothing quite like picking out a Halloween costume each year. We’d dress up as our favorite characters from whatever popular Disney movie came out that year or as something we dreamed of being when we grew up.

We’d wear the costumes to school, where we’d spend the whole day just enjoying the holiday, playing games and eating candy and other Halloween-themed snacks, not a trace of schoolwork in sight.

Then, at night, we’d meet up with our neighborhood friends and go trick-or-treating.

Before you knew it, you fell asleep in your costume, wishing you could do it all again the next morning.

Around Halloween time this year, I saw a video on social media in which a parent explained how Halloween worked to a little boy. He told his kid that, if you said “trick-or-treat” to whoever answered the door, they’d hand you candy. The little boy’s face lit up, so excited and intrigued to see it for himself.

The video was so pure and magical in itself.

This year for Halloween, I went to work and went home. Unfortunately, I couldn’t even hand out candy, because I work so late and I live in an apartment where I’m the youngest person in the building.

Then there’s Christmas, where magic pours out of each detail of the holiday.

Growing up, we didn’t have the popular Elf on the Shelf most family homes have now, but that kind of magic would’ve certainly been welcomed in our home.

To be fair, when I was in high school, my dad created a “life-sized” Elf on the Shelf to move around the yard, which has been decked out in Christmas lights and decorations each year for as long as I can remember.

Now, my dad has a 17-foot fiberglass Santa Claus — his pride and joy for a handful of years now.

However, since the magic of Christmas was revealed to me, it’s not quite the same experience of feelings that I can only imagine kids now get, both with seeing a giant Santa Claus and the mysterious Elf on the Shelf.

For a lot of kids now, throughout December, they wake up each morning searching for their magical friend, who can be found in various locations and situations and is not to be touched. I’m sure my creative parents would’ve had a blast doing that for me and my brother when we were younger.

Lately, on social media, I see plenty of photos and videos of parents and their kids checking out the wild and creative things the elf had accomplished in the night. It’s still joyful to live vicariously, though, and I rarely skip over those posts.

Adding to the magic, we used to love having to put out food for Santa and his reindeer each Christmas Eve. Just before bed, after tracking Santa on the news, we’d lay out milk and cookies on the kitchen table and plenty of carrots and reindeer food in the yard, only to find it all gone and a mess left behind in the morning.

Santa wraps his gifts in special wrapping paper in our house, too. But, for the last few years, I’ve had to help Santa a time or two by wrapping his gifts — my parents love to try to keep the magic alive, despite me and my brother being in our 20s.

But I appreciate their effort.

I’m sure it’s not easy for them, either, as we grow up and age out of the magical possibilities.

And I hope that, one day, when I have kids of my own, I can build those magical moments for them, too.

I’ll do everything I can to keep it alive for as long as possible, because I can only assume that, one day, they’ll grow up and feel how I do now, wishing the magic of being a kid never ended.

Torianna Marasco can be reached at 989-358-5686 or tmarasco@thealpenanews.com.