What are you doing this Christmas?
Are you lucky enough to have family you can visit and get out of any cooking or washing up? :lol:
Are you at home with all your family visiting you and doing all the cooking and washing up? :o
Or do you have other plans?
Christmas can be a difficult time of year, it always seems the time when you remember exactly HOW MANY Christmases you have spent apart from your ex. I think i eventually stopped doing it after 4!
Its a time when you see your children delighted at the sparkly season and wonder how anyone could want to miss out on that, or at least not make every effort to try and make it even more special.
For some it can be a time when you have to drive half way across the country mid Christmas day, so that your children get the best of both grandparents.
It can all get very complicated and for people in the early years of splitting up, it can be a very emotional one, how does it make you feel? :?:
I always cook, and always seem to wash up too!! Which I'm not too happy about. I do have a slimline dishwasher, but some of my saucepans still need washing!
I've told the children today that they can peel all the veg this year. My mum and I would shut ourselves in the kitchen on Christmas eve and get everything ready. We used to have such lovely times doing it too. Sadly my mum died 12 years ago (15 December), and somehow, for me, Christmas will never be the same without my parents.
I've not heard from ex, so I don't know if he has any plans that we need to work around. As things stand, the children want dinner here. I don't make a drama out of it though if plans need to change - we'll eat on Boxing day instead!
This is the best time of Christmas, the looking forward. The children have chosen gifts for their friends today, so they're wrapping them.
Far better when you haven't got the flu though...
Hi everyone, well done to people who are not buying presents from the children to dad, or buying them 'from' dad. it can be heartbreaking especially when they ask questions, but it the beginning of a reality check for them. Its a hard lesson, but we can't keep covering for an irresponsible adult and fooling our kids. The truth is out......
Christmas time can be tough, but I promise you - it does get easier.
Sparklinglime, sorry to hear that this is a difficult time for you, it must be terribly hard missing your mum, hopefully though, you will be able to carry on the tradition that you shared with your children the older they get?
Remember this time of year is about peace, joy and love and if we can give our children that we are doing a great job.
Happy yuletide everyone, i look forward to hearing how it went.
Christmas day was ok really - except my daughter tossed her present aside - it wasn't a DS lite!! Oh dear, couldn't find one for £25! haha
My eldest son peeled the potatoes on Christmas eve, which was such a huge help. I had a snooze while he did that (still recovering from the flu) which was unfortunate as he peeled all the 14 lbs I'd had with a hamper I'd been paying for all year. :D Ah well, managed to cook most of them, and we've been having them fried... He mashed them on Christmas day too, and dinner was really lovely.
The children saw their dad for a couple of hours in the morning, which suited him fine, and the children were happy enough with that.
Daughter came to get her present, humbly, in the afternoon, and has been playing happily with it ever since. I was in bed before 8pm though - this flamin' flu!
Getting on with my essay today, which should have been on December the 9th - had an extention. Next one due in on January 20th.
Sorry for droning on!
It's still Christmas in this house!
I really do hope that every one has been coping ok. It can be so hard, I know. This is my 5th Christmas since becoming a lone-parent, and possibly the most relaxed one (a first - except for the flu...)
Hi there sparklinglime
Glad your Christmas went Ok, though I bet you're sick of the sight of potatoes ;) Hope your flu is finally clearing up; even when you are "better", the fatigue can linger on so your 8pm bed sounds very sensible. Hope everyone else is Ok; a number of people have said to me that it is New Year that they dislike the most- what does everyone think?
Louise :)
I think New Year can actually be a very positive time if you spend it with people who mean a lot to you and understand you. For the past few years myself and several other single mum friends have developed a tradition of gathering at one or other of our houses (for the first time ever, this year it wasn't mine!) all bringing some food, drink, silly games etc. It's good because we can all be together and celebrate it with our children - who all get on well, it must be said, even though they're a mix of ages and genders. One of the touching moments for me was seeing my towering 12 year old daughter stooping down to bond with my friend's diminutive lad over DS games - she won't normally even speak to boys! It was very interesting that, even though a Wii was available, (the reason we'd gathered at my friend's house instead of mine for a change!) the game the kids wanted to play above all was Twister! So what if all their respective fathers are off celebrating New Year at clubs or pubs or whatever - because they have abdicated real responsibility for their offspring. I like our way better!! Fi xx
That does sound so lovely Fi.
I'd love to feel positive about a new year - but never have. I seem to look back, and then with the pretty, sparkly and twinkly decorations coming down, it doesn't help!
I'm afraid I am one of these who gets down. Last year I felt low into March.
However, today I feel good! So maybe this year I am that much better than I have been! :D
This year, I know I will have a lovely time, and so will my daughter, as we are at her Grandparents (my parents) BUT....this is the first year, that I am not buying the presents for her on behalf of her dad who then used to give me the money after. I have asked him (as he is abroad) to get just a little something and get it in the post, which would mean even more to her and me. But I know for a fact that sadly this isn't going to happen!!! (he hasn't asked for the postal address, and I know he doesn't know it!!!) And do you know something, it makes me hopping mad, and really sad all at the same time!!! :(