Today is officially DAY 1 of my holiday break and I could not be more excited. I’m literally so anxy babes cuz in a few days I’ll be headed to Texas to spend the holiday with my BFF. It’s our 2nd annual Texas Christmas and I can’t wait to get the party started. There will be lots of veg’ing on the couch, watching holiday movies and there might even be matching pj’s involved LOL. No seriously, Carol makes us wear matching Christmas PJ’s!! But I’m always down for cute PJ’s. Sharing some cute options to help you get in the Christmas spirit!
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As we approach the Holiday season, I have found myself more and more reflecting on how the holidays’ significance has evolved throughout my life. I know that this season of time looks different for everyone, and while it is a time that is supposed to celebrate life, come together with the people we love, and share hope with the world, this unfortunately is not true for all. I am not trying to insinuate that the holidays haven’t been some of the most joyous times in my life, but like everyone else they have at times been hard, and I think that I am just in a season of my life where I am open to redefining my traditions to better fit the person I am now. As a kid the holidays represent something very different than when you’re an adult and that also shifts when you become a parent. My point is we’re always growing as people, and our circumstances and worldviews change and this year for the first time in a while, I’m feeling especially excited about the prospects of my new traditions.
So often we hear about this notion of a “chosen family” and babes let me tell you, it’s no joke how powerful this is. Last year the girls and I went to Texas to visit Carol and her family for Christmas, and let me tell you, this completely shifted my Christmas experience. Carol is more than a best friend to me and she is my sister and partner for life, and to be able to bring our two families together to celebrate was one of the most poignant moments of my entire life. Everything just felt right and as if I was where I was supposed to be. Carol has been my rock for over 20 years and I truly do not know what I would do without her, especially as my life has undergone some really intense changes in the past year. Getting to be with Carol during Christmas represents so much for me, and I think that this is the part that is so important. The girls and I feel at home, safe, and loved when we are with her and her family.
May and Xia are in their 20s and Carol’s boys are in their late teens (19 and almost 17), so the dynamics and way we enjoy Christmas is not the same as trying to entertain children. Carol and I have found that having children that are older has been one of the best seasons of life as we all really enjoy each other’s company and want to do activities together that we all enjoy. This is not to say that I didn’t love making Christmas magical for the girls as children or enjoy their presence, but it is different as your kids grow older and that’s the beauty of it. We had no idea how it was going to be spending Christmas together last year, and it was really the best when we realized that our children love each other’s company and enjoy spending Christmas in a less traditional way.
I think this was further solidified when we went on our family vacation together this summer. This time was slightly different as we also had some of Xia’s friends with us, but again, it’s so refreshing to hang out with young adults. It warmed my heart that by the end everyone had become very close, to the point that we text almost everyday in a group chat just checking in on each other and planning when we’ll all be together again. It’s this feeling that I want my holidays to continue having as we approach Christmas time again. I want you babes to know that however you best see fit to spend the holidays is the right way. Trying to fit this mold of tradition or how society expects us to spend the holidays is dumb as all that matters is that you are happy.
For years I tried to please everyone else and make sure my kids and family were happy, and accommodated for everyone, but I found that the more that I tried, not everyone was happy or reciprocated the effort. The holidays are meant to be joyous, and it hurt me when I couldn’t make it wonderful for everyone and again this is why I love having adult children because we all want to create a meaningful holiday for each other. Everything is just easier and getting to be with some of the people that I love most in my life is truly the best. I don’t know what I did to be such a lucky girl, but I finally feel that the holidays are making sense for this stage of my life. With all this being said I truly wish that you babes have the best, most relaxing holiday season, and I am sending all my love to you darlings!
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