For Divorced Parents:

[DisneyAddict_M]

My ex and I get along really well. On Christmas Day, dd's supposed to be with him in the morning and me in the evening. I'm going to ask him if he wants her until Monday just so that he can spend a longer holiday with her, since I don't really celebrate Christmas and he does. He only sees her every other weekend, whereas I have her the rest of the time. We compromise for each other quite a bit and I feel very lucky that I get along so well with both my ex and his 2nd wife.

Divorce is sad, but it happens. Might as well make the best of the situation.

 

[hemispheredancer]

Kudos and hugs to those of you who still get along with your exes. To hear that you can be civilized enough to share Christmas together for the sake of the kids is awesome. Ex and current husband shop and go out? OMG!! That would be just a little too cozy for me! Have a great Christmas!!

 

[experiment626mom]

We had Christmas with my MIL last weekend. We will have Christmas with the kids this weekend. Like NMAmy we just pretend that it's Christmas with the meals and the gifts etc. Ours are too old for Santa, but yep we did that too.

And then dh and I will have our Christmas at DW on 12/25!!

 

[NMAmy]

We had Christmas with my MIL last weekend. We will have Christmas with the kids this weekend. Like NMAmy we just pretend that it's Christmas with the meals and the gifts etc. Ours are too old for Santa, but yep we did that too.

And then dh and I will have our Christmas at DW on 12/25!!

Wow, you lucky duck! I wish I could get away with that but dd would have my head if I tried to go to WDW without her. I hope you have a great time!

And Merry Christmas this weekend to you!

 

[NMAmy]

Our normal Christmas routine is my kids go to their dads Christmas eve and I get them back around 2:00 Christmas day. This year will be different. My DH wants to go to Ohio to spend Christmas with his dad. My ex agreed to let the kids go to Ohio with us. So my kids will have Christmas with their dad on the 21st. I'm kind of anxious about the whole change. I've never been away from my family for Christmas. My in laws are great so there is no problem with that whole aspect. Our holiday will just be different and more relaxed then we are used to. Wish us luck.

I'm sure it'll go great, teenee. Sometimes you just have to mix it up a little. Have a great trip!

 

[Cthia]

Up until this year we use to take turns each year of who would have DD on Christmas morning. If it was my ex’s year she would spend Christmas Eve over his house and be back home around 10AM or so Christmas Day. If she was with me she would go over his house around 1PM or later on Christmas Day and spend the night over there. I got to have her longer in the morning since I have family here and we have the big Christmas meal. Plus Santa came to my house; he never made it to his house.

And now that DD has a little sister my ex said that I can keep her on Christmas morning so she can enjoy Christmas with her sister. So now she will go to his house around 1PM and stay there until Monday. This year Christmas weekend would have been his weekend to have her. Luckily we both get along so we are very flexible on who's weekend it is, etc.

 

[Pam]

:thewave:

I was looking for an applause smiley--but could not find one. What a truly selfless gift, and one I know many children of divorce would appreciate--even the older ones.

I agree!

 

[Sherrypooh]

get along very well also. He will have the kids xmas eve and then I will have them xmas day. They are 14 and 15 and they pretty much choose where they want to be. I am willing to let the ex have 1st choice of the holidays, I have my kids all the time and where he sees them only every other weekend, I let him have first choice. But again, we kinda listen to what the kids want too.

 

[aprincessmom]

Christmas Eve is the more important day for my family and DD is with me for that...we host a large gathering of friends and family so it's really the big day of celebration. On Christmas Morning her dad comes to my house, watches her open her gifts from Santa and then has breakfast with us. Then she gets dressed and goes to his house to open presents with him. He bring her back in early afternoon and we open more presents and then have a nice candlelight dinner by the fireplace.

She came up with this arrangement when she was 5 and we stick to it. We figured since the day was more for her than us, it only made sense to see how she wanted it to go. And it works just fine.

 

[Shannon G]

In the early days of our divorce, the boys were little (2 and 3) and my ex used to come over early on Christmas morning to do the stockings, marvel at the stuff Santa brought and watch them open their gifts.

In the process of a divorce, and this is the first year that we've had to deal with this, but we're going to try this approach too. I told their dad recently that if we were going to split the holiday up, I'd prefer to have XMas Eve, since my family has a big gathering. So, they'll be with me XMas Eve. But he asked me just the other day if it would be okay if he came over on XMas morning, so he could be there when the girls open their gifts to Santa & such. He did say he wouldn't be mad if I didn't want to do that. But, I can only iagine how I would feel if I missed out on it, so he shouldn't have to miss out on it either. Our kids are young, and there are only so many Christmases where they will believe in Santa, so if we can work it out so that neither one of us has to miss any, then we will. And the kids are the innocent ones in all of this - they should not have lose out either. Then, they will probably head off to have dinner with him.