Merry Christmas from the Frog

I’ve seen some sad posts about the holidays on social media lately and I wanted to share a story. The first Christmas after my ex and I split up, my five year old son noticed that I didn’t have any gifts under the tree and it seemed to bother him. I took note and the following year, I bought myself a few gifts, wrapped them, and put them under the Christmas tree.

Of course, I couldn’t give myself gifts, so I made tags “from” our menagerie of dogs and cats and frogs. And since the pets couldn’t just give me gifts, my son and his younger sister received presents from them too. This has evolved into a full blown tradition that my now adult kids still play along with. I personally haven’t given a Christmas present in years! Instead, my family gets presents from the pets, Darth Vader, The Flash….my daughter even has one under the tree this year from “Random Guy I Met In Walmart Parking Lot.”

My point is, at this time of year, we are inundated with commercials and movies showing idyllic Christmas scenes. For many, it’s easy to look at our less than perfect lives and feel like we’re missing out. I know that I felt that way the first couple of years after my divorce. But that time is long past and what used to make me feel sad has turned into a favorite tradition. Today, my grown kids are more excited to see who the presents are from than for the actual gifts themselves. For me, it is just as much fun to watch them sneaking peeks at the gift tags as it is to watch them open their presents on Christmas morning.

And I enjoy doing it. It certainly makes wrapping more fun, especially as it gets towards the end and I have to get really creative thinking of new people or creatures who gave the gifts.

I share this story because I want everyone to know that just because your holidays aren’t “the perfect ones” we see around us, it doesn’t mean they can’t be wonderful in their own weird way!