Holidays! Magic or Drama?

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Here we go, another round of the magic of the holidays. I guess I should have posted this 4 months ago when Target put out the decorations so my apologies for getting to it now.

As moms, we are all in different places in the stages of our children’s growth. Some of you may already have traditions set in stone, some of you may not feel the need to set traditions and you roll with the season, and some of you may be struggling as to what you want your traditions to be.

How do we manage all the stress?

Many of us live far from our families. Do we spend thousands and go have the holidays with them? Invite them here to celebrate with us? Or maybe we wish they lived farther so we could just enjoy the time with our family without the drama?

For my family we used to bend over backwards to make the extended family happy, we’d pack up the car, drive hundreds of miles, sleep on whatever bed was available, drive all over the city to see both sides of the family and still hear all about how it wasn’t enough time with one side or the other. We’d fight, stress, worry, lose sleep, you name it just to try to force what we thought was important for the holidays.

It just was a sadness pile year after year. Until, our sweet son graced us with the strength to set boundaries.

For us, having a family meant we could start our own traditions and create our own memories with our nuclear family. And let me tell you, it was not an easy road. Lots of guilt, lots of arguing with the in-laws, LOTS of therapy. But we are here! We made it! We get to have the magic and it’s wonderful. Our son gets to wake up on Christmas morning in his bed, in his house and it’s glorious.

Don’t get me wrong, we love our families we love seeing them and there is the constant collaboration so our son and future kiddos will see their awesome extended families. Nonetheless, it was imperative that we work on our family first and making sure it really is magical for him.

What’s crucial for your family?

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Kendra Franchi
Kendra Franchi is an Arizona Native, born and raised in Tucson. She moved to Flagstaff at 17 to attend NAU and decided instantly Flagstaff was her forever home. She completed an undergraduate degree in psychology, criminal justice and Spanish. With the support of her husband she continued on to obtain two graduate degrees in counseling and psychology. She went into private practice specializing in clinical health diagnoses as well as developmental disabilities and delays in adults and children. Kendra was an avid blogger for the community with Gluten Intolerance when she was originally diagnosed with Celiac. As life happens, many things changed when she had her (now) two year old son Oliver. She currently stays home and works as a licensed mortgage officer so she can raise/play and explore life with her little guy! You’ll see her around town, maybe reading some books to kiddos at a local story time and trying every new restaurant that opens. She is excited to get back into blogging and share with you new things to explore and love about our tiny town.

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