4 Simple Strategies For An A-Typical Holiday Season by Judy Davis, The Direction Diva

One of the greatest challenges I face as a military spouse is being separated from family and friends during the holiday season. It was tough during those first years and deployment but now that we are empty nesters – with children too many miles away – it’s even worse. You see my definition of a real holiday season is to host and attend many different types of parties where we come together with those we love and celebrate the good (and hug out the bad) times we’ve had throughout the year. It’s a time to reminisce and re-connect, and most of all create new memories.

Whether it was days of prep for the ultimate Thanksgiving feast or hours of planning, baking and decorating so that anyone who walked through the door felt welcome, my goal was to make sure that every guest felt like they had come home. I loved the hustle and bustle of juggling a full social calendar, dressing up for my husbands corporate events and watching my loved ones open their gifts knowing that I got it just right. But when you live far away and your family is spread out across the country the vision and the reality are very different. Since we became a military family – 8 years ago – I’ve had to change my thoughts and re-define what a real holiday means for me. And honestly I haven’t been able to figure that out yet.

If I’m completely honest, my attitude over the last few weeks is to skip it all together. The kids won’t be able to get here this year, and we made the conscious decision to not take any more leave – so here we will stay. I tell myself it’s a good thing because the other soldiers with little ones will be able to create memories like the one’s I cherish, but there is a part of me that just longs to be surrounded by family and friends who know me well. Don’t get me wrong my military peeps rock and I have some incredible battle buddies, but for my entire life the holidays were filled with LOTs of family, love and laughter.

So I let myself have my moment, and woke up today bound and determined to figure out some strategies that will help me get through the season without bumming myself out (or killing my husband