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How to survive your first post-divorce holiday season (2)

Earlier this week, we wrote a blog post offering tips for Atlanta parents on how to remain positive and to keep the holidays happy, even when you are struggling to deal with a recent divorce and are unable to share the holiday season with your children in the way that you would like.

Traditions are an important part of any holiday celebration. That is often what makes the first holiday season after divorce so painful and difficult. Therefore, you should take a moment at the start of the holiday season and think about which traditions you want to keep and which should be tossed. Creating new traditions can help you achieve closure from your married life, and can bring you and your children closer together in the years to come.

If the custody agreement dictates that these new traditions won’t include the actual holiday itself, don’t get discouraged. The days leading up to a major holiday are still a joyous, fun time, and you can create plenty of memories then. Decorate your home or bake cookies, go to holiday carnivals or celebrations, volunteer your time or do some other fun event to commemorate the coming holiday. That will ensure that your children will still have plenty of happy memories of celebrating the holiday with you, even if you are not together on the actual day.

And on that day, don’t sit at home mourning the loss of what once was. Create a happy holiday for yourself by trying something new, whether it is a visit to a faraway friend or family member, a new athletic challenge or a pampering spa weekend. If you are proactive and prepared, both you and your children can have a happy and festive holiday season.

Source: The Huffington Post, “O, Come All ye Newly Single Parents: How to Get Through the Holidays Without Singing The Blues,” Christina Pesoli, Oct. 19, 2012