The first Christmas is the worst. It's the first time you'll wake up to a less empty house. You have to wait to open gifts because your other parent has to come over. It's awkward because you don't know what's going on between your parents but you know this isn't how it's supposed to be.
You're waiting for that Christmas magic to be there and if you're young enough, you're wondering how Santa delivers to your dad's house on Christmas Eve but your moms on Christmas morning.
A few laters you've worked out a schedule. Now you have two Thanksgivings, two Christmases, two everything. You have to remember to save room for all the food you've got to eat at the brunch then the dinner.
You're excited to see your cousins and aunts and uncles because you weren't able to see them at Thanksgiving due to scheduling conflicts with the families.
You fear hurting people's feelings because you're not able to make it to the event or you postpone a holiday by a few days to make it all work. You just want to make everyone happy.
You're in the middle of this madness. Your siblings are aware of the stress that ensues with blended family holidays but you don't say anything about it. You just do your best to make the best of the situation.
After a few years, it has become routine. You start planning weeks or months in advance to make sure it'll all work out for everybody. And sometimes, you have to miss out on events to make others work and you have to accept that that as an unfortunate outcome of the divorce. But none of that means you don't care about your family.
At the end of the day, yes, holidays are difficult and it's hard to be positive, but who should be so lucky to now have twice the family that loves you and wants to celebrate with you. Two turkeys, two Christmas trees to decorate, twice the love to go around.
