Holiday time can be exciting, stressful, overwhelming, and/or comforting depending on your holiday traditions. For many families, it means spending time at different homes, particularly where parents are divorced. In the movie Four Christmases, a couple struggles to visit all four of their divorced parents on Christmas Day, showcasing the trials and tribulations of splitting the holidays between several households.
I’ve been noticing in my divorce mediation practice, however, that many families are striving to keep holiday traditions alive even through divorce. For example, several couples still plan on celebrating the holidays together instead of at two different households. One family recently decided that they would both be together on Christmas morning when the children woke up and even asked me to write up their mediated parenting plan to state this.
In some cases, continuing to spend the holidays together and keeping established holiday traditions alive after a divorce may work for a family. In other cases, it may not be practical or realistic. Either way, divorce brings about changes and it may be time to establish new holiday traditions that will themselves become treasured memories.
Here’s an article with a few helpful tips: http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/holidays-after-divorce