The holidays are coming. Seems like they sneak up faster and faster every year. When I was married the holidays seemed easier. I had someone else to get on the roof and string the Christmas lights, someone else to put up the tree, someone else to help. Now it’s just the two of us and it seems like a lot more work.
The first year I was divorced was the hardest. I was struggling just to afford the necessities for my daughter, money for Christmas seemed impossible. I stressed myself out so badly trying to make everything the same for Hailey as it had always been.
After that first year I knew I had to do something different. We needed to move away from the material aspects of the holiday and move into gratitude. It’s easy to be grateful when you have enough, when you are struggling it’s harder to find and hold on to that gratitude.
I wanted more for my daughter. I wanted her to know the true meaning of the holiday, I wanted her to learn to give of herself. We started making gifts together. One of Hailey’s favorites was when she made bath salts for all of her aunts. She was so proud and felt really good being able to give something that she had made.
We tried to remember that there are others so much less fortunate than we are, even if we were struggling financially all of our basic needs were taken care of. We weren’t hungry, we weren’t cold, and we didn’t have to live in fear. Some years the only thing we could afford to do was make cookies for an elderly neighbor who lived alone. Those cookies and the time we took to sit and visit with our neighbor made a difference to her, and that’s what this time of year is really about.
Whether you are a single parent or not it’s important to teach our children gratitude and to serve others. You never know when the one little thing you do could make a difference to someone else.