Dealing with divorced parents throughout the holiday season is not hardly as crazy or dramatic as the movies make it out to be. When dealing with my separated family, it’s always been pretty easy, but that said, each family is different. 

For me, dramatics have not ever been a major issue during the holidays. Movies like Parent Trap or Mrs. Doubtfire show a more dramatic version of a family divorce dynamic than what it is actually like, in my opinion. These movies are not accurate to the actual lives of divorced parents, my family definitely has times where they are dramatic but it has never escalated to the level portrayed in movies. 

Throughout the seven years of my parents divorce, they have been splitting holidays evenly. I have never felt like there was a need to stress over scheduling around holidays. If my mom has me during Christmas then my dad will have me on Christmas Eve, the next year it will be the reverse. They try to split holidays evenly to allow equal time with each parent.

There are many positives with split parents but the negatives are something that rise up during every holiday season. This Christmas Eve, I am planning to be with my dad, while on Christmas I am planning to spend time at my mom’s house. Being expected to split that time, can be hard when I have other priorities such as work or homework. 

One of the major problems that usually comes up is bringing all my belongings from one house then the other, just the fast back and forth. During holidays I get many clothes, money and other necessities that I need to bring from my dad’s house to my mom’s house. Just the complications of splitting time with the inclusion of having that gas being spent is one of the hard parts of the holidays with my kind of family. Even with all these challenges, my family still continues to spend the holidays happily as a separate family. 

Christmas is one of the most exciting times for me. I love that I am able to share the experience of Christmas with more than one side of the family. I get double the presents, double the food and double the family time. Being able to share that experience of Christmas with all my family, non-relational and related is something I treasure. People that have this new start with a split family, typically understand that it can be very difficult at times but often overlook the bright side of the situation that promotes new life experiences.