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Wreath What You Sow
Don’t Let the Christmas Season Keep You From Abandoning Your Family
The best gift to leave your loved ones is the gift of leaving your loved ones
My parents got divorced when I was a kid. I remember the day I found out. Dad came down to the basement, where my brother and I were playing. If I recall correctly, we were acting out our favorite scene from The Thing. Anyway, Dad called us over to him and put a hand on each of our shoulders, and asked, “You boys love Christmas, right?”
We nodded.
“Well, what if instead of one Christmas every year, you got two?”
Seemed like a pretty sweet deal to us.
The lengthy custody battle watered down the excitement some. The courts deemed my brother and I a “bonded pair,” and made us stand before our parents in court to choose one to live with. Dad was a drunk and got really weepy when all boozed up. Mom was a drunk too, but when she got boozed up she made pancakes and bought us stuff. We chose mom.
Dad sulked out of the courtroom, and we haven’t seen him since. So, we still only had one Christmas a year.
When I went through my own divorce, I broke the news to my daughter in much the same way. We had a tea…
