PG's article on this one was great.

You only get ~8 Christmases where the "magic" is still there for kids... from roughly 2-10 and then it's just another day of gifts and (potentially) envy.

I'm traveling a ton right now with an 18 month old and dying to get back there.

Edit: PG said it here: http://www.paulgraham.com/vb.html