There’s no real point to this thread except to give a little glimmer of hope to anyone who is where I’ve been.
Last Christmas was the first one as a ‘broken family’. My daughter splitting her time 50/50, all very amicable with her dad, but it was a very unsettling time.
The whole Christmas period was really shit… I hated every minute, but knew I just had to get over it.
Fast forward a year.
My house is decorated exactly how I want, and my daughter & I have made our own little new traditions, we’re doing things our way… silly, little things, but I love it all the same.
At the weekend I sat on the sofa, her next to me, we had Xmas films on, the decs looked ace, and I had a little secret cry at how content I felt.
Christmas was always a contentious period. My ex had a lot of anger & control issues, and I would get into trouble for buying any new decorations, or for having anything more than a tree. One very infamous time was when I bought a tree shaped bowl for the Christmas chocolates (sounds hideous actually if trust me, it was naice!). He smashed it and said I was way OTT. In a lovely bit of (karma?), this year he was looking at all my decorations and said how lovely everything was, and his house just didn’t have the same feel… and that he didn’t have anything he could put the Quality Street in, so he’d left them in the tub 😂
We actually have a great relationship now, so I don’t rise or comment on any little wins like that, I just smile to myself and let it go.
Anyway… that’s my ramble.
If this year is tough for you, sit it out, get through it any way you can, and here’s hoping the next year brings you contentment.