ExH and I split nearly 2 years ago. It’s as amicable as it can be, no cheating on either side. I initiated the split and originally exh wanted us to try again but has now accepted it. We both now have partners - I’ve been with someone for just over a year and he’s been with someone nearly half his age for a few months.
Anyway, when we split we agreed we’d alternate Christmas. ExH works over 200 miles away and also often has to work in the states for weeks at a time. I had dc last Christmas but Exh came over for the afternoon as he couldn’t travel anyway due to Covid. This year exh is due to be in the states from early Dec to end of Dec. His suggestion is that I take dc to somewhere in the Caribbean and he comes and joins us with his girlfriend for a few days staying at the same or nearby hotel. I said I wasn’t really comfortable doing that so he said then he’d ask his parents to do it so that he could still have his Christmas with them.
Dc are 5 and 9 so still absolutely love Christmas. I could cope with not having them for Christmas Day but for a whole week I’d feel absolutely bereft. ExH is very good with dc when he’s with them but due to his job I have essentially been a single parent for most of their lives in terms of time spent with them. He would generally only spend 2-3 days a month with us as a family even when we were married.
I’d like to think we could spend Christmas together but it’s not so much exh that I couldn’t tolerate being around, it’s his new girlfriend. She’s 23, an “influencer” and generally just spends her time either photographing herself with my dc/ asking me to photograph her with my dc/ posting photos on Instagram of her with my dc with the caption “family love 💕”/ giggling like a lunatic at whatever exh says, even if it’s something like “the traffic is bad today”/ making incredibly unsubtle “sexy” comments in front of exh.
It probably sounds like I’m jealous of the new girlfriend, maybe I am. I’m certainly jealous that she’s early 20’s, looks amazing and somehow makes money from photos of her arse. But mostly she’s just incredibly annoying.
I don’t know how much time we’d be expected to spend together though. ExH has said he’d like to be there when dc open their stockings and for us all to do a Christmas dinner together. I could cope with just that. I’m just concerned I’d get out there and be expected to spend my days with a 23 year old pretending to be the mother of my kids and end up absolutely blowing my top at her.
Wwyd?