I will start by saying I haven’t written a post for a while and there are several reasons attributing to that. None of them are because I have nothing to say, that is never the case! I always have something to say. haha! I am having a hard time writing about our life or sharing what I want to say at the moment out of fear someone will read it, share and misunderstand it as a direct attack to either of our kids bio parents. Some of you will understand that, some won’t. This post can’t be misinterpreted at all, and I hope it helps someone!
Turns out I actually wrote about Brandy Snaps once before here. They are pretty delish, and I found them today all ready for Christmas.
Did you know we only have 79 days until Christmas Eve??? Crazy right? Most of you are probably thinking urgh! Christmas? Already. It’s only October, and my family would be right along side you, agreeing all the way. Especially my mum and dad, I am pretty sure Christmas shopping was done on Christmas Eve when we were kids. Normally I start thinking about Christmas Shopping on November 1st (so I am a little early this year), Our last birthday of the year is the 30th of October, and Halloween winds out the month letting me ramp up for Christmas. It may just be a me thing, I like being prepared. Or a big family thing. There is so much planning required to pull off presents with growing kids, and what seems like a shrinking house. I don’t know how Santa does it…….
Shared Parenting rotation for special occasions like Christmas Day can be brutal. At our house we swap year about. When I left my husband we didn’t even live in the same state so sharing the day was never an option. So one year is spent with me, the next with him. Trying to navigate the logistics of a shared parenting with one person is tricky enough, we now do it with two. So seeing as the orders for my children were set in stone, our aim was to line up the other kids with that rotation, otherwise they would have never got to spend Christmas Day together, and this was important for us. With the children in the forefront our minds we also didn’t like the idea of them opening presents at either house, then having to go to the other one part way through the day. (side note, if this is what works for you I am not knocking it, I just knew it wouldn’t work for us.) All four parents, so essentially 4 different families live no where near us, so by alternating years this gives everyone the opportunity to travel to see family if they wish. The kids think it’s pretty great too, it means when they come back to us they get a bonus second January Christmas #winning.
I am not sure how other people feel about Christmas, but it has come in waves for me. When I was a kid obviously it was the best day of the year, then you grow into a teenager and the magic and shine wears off a little and you wonder if it will ever come back. I am here to tell you it does, when you have kids of your own. I then assume it tapers off again, until they have kids of their own. So keeping that in mind when I had my kids I started a tradition with them, and every Christmas we made chocolate dipped brandy snaps. I loved the idea of them looking forward to something that wasn’t available all year. I mean, all Christmas food is great, isn’t it? But we can have Ham and Cold Chicken Platters any day. It’s all about the sweet treats.
As we joined our families together and the kids have gotten older, we added more traditions to our Christmas’s for the kids to remember and hopefully carry on. We now do Christmas eve bags only on alternate years when they are actually with us for Christmas Eve. I saw the idea online of a Christmas Eve Box and loved it, so we adapted it to suit us. Boxes were a little hard to find, so we opted for gift bags. These include sweets and snacks for a Christmas Movie and new summer PJs. Our January Christmas’s Mean, New Beach Towels & Swimmers.
If you’re a mum or dad who has recently separated, a new family with little ones, or a blended family like ours I can’t encourage you enough to make traditions. They don’t have to be extravagant or expensive, but create something magical for your place.
– Bec
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3Plus5 