How was your Christmas?

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Merry Christmas to all!

I'm hoping everyone here enjoyed a peaceful Christmas but I know that with difficult children in the picture that is often easier said than done. Many a Christmas I came to this site with how sad I was because of difficult child and the holidays. Feel free to vent here or to share your Christmas successes!

This year I can honestly say has been the most peaceful Christmas that I can remember. difficult child actually slept until 5:00 and then asked us what time he wanted to get up. We told him 7 and he actually let us sleep til 7! If you know my difficult child and his tendency to be up at 2:00 or 2:30 every Christmas and waking us up every half hour asking us to get up you will understand what a miracle this was.

Right now we are hanging with my sister in law, niece, and her husband and difficult child is being entirely appropriate!
 

dekalbdaddy

New Member
Almost sixty years old. Absolutely hands down worst Christmas ever. I called the police to have my twelve year old removed from my house because he was punching holes in my wall and pulling the stuffing out of the couch. Of course I am not allowed to be physical because we are all so enlightened these days. Fortunately my oldest daughter showed up at the same time as the police and they let her take him to his mother's house. Today I found out the one of my daughters has conduct disorder and has to live with me or go into long term residential treatment because she is a danger to her siblings. She's sixteen. So I spent today yelling at God. I'm so stressed and depressed that I feel like my body and mind can't contain it. I just joined this site a few minutes ago. What means difficult child.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
You are free to share more and start your own thread, DekalbDad. Wow, 60 with a twelve year old! I'm 61 and I think I have a young 'un because she is eighteen. I don't know how you can keep doing it. And a sixteen year old too. Man, it's the time in our lives when she should be able to reflect and calm down. I'm sorry your Christmas was bad. I'm glad though that you didn't hit your child, no matter how you feel about our laws. Hitting doesn't help.

Hang in there and you may share your story if you like.
 

LittleDudesMom

Well-Known Member
Sharon, sounds like difficult child gave you a great present this year -- I so remember the years of 2 and 3 am wake up calls from him!!!!

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! We spend Christmas Eve visiting friends and delivering homemade candies that easy child and I made. That evening, difficult child, easy child and I spent a quiet evening with our favorite appetizers watching a Christmas movie. Christmas Day was peaceful and filled with friends and family and warmth. We started the morning off just the three of us opening gifts and then were joined by my college roommate and her daughter (who is the same age as my easy child) for a great brunch with free-flowing mimosas! After that, the second wave came in for for more mimosas and sweets with ex bonehead and his wife followed by my mother in law. We actually had a really nice time...go figure...

The three of us spent the next three house just relaxing unit the third wave arrived at 7:30 - some of easy child's friends!

We didn't head up for bed until around 1 am! But it was a lovely Christmas. easy child and I are getting ready to go out and run some errands as I have a house full of overnight guests arriving tomorrow morning! My birthday is Sunday and I will be having a gathering Sunday evening. I so enjoy this time of the year because I spend time with family and friends!

I'm sorry for those who had a day of struggles. I learned a long time ago to be happy with my lot and make the best of what I had. Over the years that attitude has served me well and allowed me to count my blessings one by one even when I thought there were none.

dekalbdaddy - I hope you start a new thread and introduce yourself to our community - your first post might get a little lost here in this thread. You will find a lot of support from those who can empathize and have experienced similar family issues.

Happy Holidays,
Sharon
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Sharon-so glad your Christmas was so nice! It sounds relaxing even with all of those people around!
 

HMBgal

Well-Known Member
Lots of fun, hard work, noise, chaos...the usual. difficult child grandson held it together when all of the cousins were here, but lost it for about 10 minutes over something really silly (to the rest of us), but he did it only in front of his primary family. It's kind of good news because he seems to be getting awareness of how his meltdowns are affecting him socially so he's learning to hold them in until there's a "safer" time. I have a difficult child sister-in-law that drove us all nutso, but we've learned to deal with her and she and my brother are moving to Florida next week. I'm wandering around the house trying to figure out what to do with myself because I've been running around like my hair is on fire for two weeks.

For those that are facing mounting challenges, I feel for you and I hope you can find what you need to carry on, here and otherwise.
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Way To Go, Sharon and Wiped Out! All that hard work is paying off.

Decalbdaddy, I am so sorry that you had a crummy Christmas, but so glad that you found us. This board can truly be a lifesaver.
Sometimes, instead of taking it one day at a time, you take it one minute at a time, with a lot of deep breaths in between.

HMBgal, it sounds like you've got a good perspective, especially in regard to not expecting a perfect Christmas. :) I know what you mean about running around like your hair is on fire, and then wandering around the house afterward. There's a meme on FB that says something like, "That awkward moment when you can't figure out if you are totally caught up on your chores or if you're getting Alzheimer's." :)

Our Christmas was small and quiet and peaceful, but difficult child has a bad cough and cold. He bought easy child a gift for the very first time, with his own money ... because we told him to. He got us nothing. And after husband went to bed, he, easy child and I sat at the kitchen table and chatted, and it turned into a "Tell-Mom-Everything-You-Hate-About-Her-Because I'm-18-and-Should-be-Able-to-do-Whatever-I-Want" conversation. I went to bed crying. (But I did not let difficult child see me.) I slept 11 hrs.
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
HMBgal-Sounds like overall things were okay! I hope now that Christmas is over you can get some rest!

Terry-I'm sorry that difficult child was a jerk last night. You don't deserve that at all! I know how you feel; I just got swore at and called all kinds of rude names by difficult child because I was upset that he was waking husband and I up during a nap-several times! Our difficult children sure don't make things easy, do they?
 

Marguerite

Active Member
Merry Christmas, everybody! Or whatever it is you and your family celebrate.

We had two Christmas Days because when your difficult child kids marry, often it's into other difficult child families. And in our case when one of our kids was not going to make it to Grandma's House for Christmas Day, we told them all to come the next day instead. So yesterday was our Christmas. Spreading it all out over two days reduced the pain a lot.

We've had a bit of the bah humbugs creep in, though. Long distance close family can also be rather difficult child at times. A close relative holding us to higher standards than she is prepared to follow herself.

So it's not just kids - this year, our kids have behaved well other than difficult child 3 asking how much money Grandma gave his siblings - he got a watch instead.

Hope you all have a wonderful new year.

Marg
 
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