Had a student once who grew up believing moose were mythical, like unicorns. She lived in NYC, apparently never went to a zoo, and so knew about moose through cartoons. I don't know that she was a hardened moose-skeptic: moose were just in the category of Things that Aren't Real.

Then, one weekend in high school, her class took a trip to Maine. They were driving along a rural highway, and there, grazing beside the road, was a real live adult moose. So my former student started screaming, "OH MY GOD A MOOSE!"

Her classmates didn't pay much attention, which she took for incredulity, so she insisted: no, there really is a moose, it's really there, MOOSE ARE REAL YOU GUYS. At which point they all laughed at her for being the dummy who didn't know moose existed.

But when she told the story later, it wasn't about their laughter. It was about how, in a moment, her world was invaded by the unreal, the fantastic. It was like seeing a UFO, a ghost, a sasquatch, an angel—a miracle.

That's my wish for all of you this year: that you meet some wonder you've never bothered with or dared to believe in, that your heart would leap in that moment to know such things could be, even now, even for you. I wish you a Real Moose.