With the current statistics there will be over 13 million single parent homes for the holidays in the United States, the number of these households has been on the rise for the last several decades. This statistic doesn’t include the parents of military spouses away from home, defending our country this holiday season.

 

Even with these statistics our contemporary culture- Computer, Blackberry, Techno-savvy people that we are-wraps itself in holiday traditions of old-fashioned Currier and Ives families. Just as education must update itself, so too, can your family holiday rituals be adapted to fit new circumstances, whatever they may be.

 

What is important for single parents to do during the holidays is reassure their children with the powerful message that: “We” are a loving, close-knit family. Our family is about the love that unites us, not our size or shape, or the amount of money we spend, at this point in time. Truly that is what treasured family rituals really provide, the warmth of family time. For children, family traditions bring security and love.

 

Unpack that menorah, those ornaments, dust off your special Christmas traditions and your loving heart. Introduce new holiday customs into your family, maybe you and your children can come up with a new way to do an old tradition.

 

When my children were too young for pre-school I wanted to continue my mother’s tradition of baking sugar cookies. What I didn’t remember was those days of making dough, cutting cookies and hours of decorating were done when I was a teenager.

 

As my children took their naps I set out all the ingredients, flour, sugar, even the sprinkles and cookies sheets. When they toddled to the kitchen, we all put aprons on and began. I was frantic keeping fingers out of the mixer, flour and sugar flew everywhere, and goodness knows where the sprinkles went. The dough was too hard for my little ones to take out of the cookie cutters. Two hours later I pulled out the blocks for my children and I began to clean up the biggest cookie mess ever.

 

Obviously, I needed to update this family tradition to make it more manageable for my little ones and myself. I bought some slice and bake cookies from the dairy case and new sprinkles. (See slide show for ideas.) I sliced, my children sprinkled, I popped in the oven and in minutes we had warm cookies and spent the extra time all cozy reading holiday books, drinking coco and eating our fresh baked cookies. It wasn’t exactly my mother’s sugar cookies but I molded her tradition to fit the age of my children.

 

If you are feeling a bit overwhelmed, stop for a moment, really look at your children. How their eyes sparkle with excitement, let their happiness be contagious, let them lead you towards new holiday traditions.

Happy Holidays,

R.R.Cratty