Making It Through The Holidays

A question I was recently asked is how we are able to make it through the holidays. I have been thinking a lot about this question so since I am up and can't sleep I might as well take the time to answer it. I have come up with my top three answers to that question even though there are more than that, but I will just focus on the three.

The holidays can be extremely difficult at times.  It is a very family and child centered time.  Children everywhere are excited for Santa to come and many traditions are centered around that.  For those struggling with infertility it can be very painful at times.

My first suggestion would be to stay busy.  Taylor and I have come up with things to do that we enjoy and our own traditions. We have been trying to enjoy the holidays to the the fullest.  Just because we don't have children to shop for and take to see Santa, it doesn't mean we can't do our own fun things still. The busier we are the less time we have to think about the pain.

Taylor and I have thought about all the fun things we would do for the holidays with our children. It's fun to think and dream about. It's something that we enjoy talking about and it gives us hope,  but we try to find a balance and not dwell on it too much to the point it is painful and frustrating. Even though we don't have a child of our own to spoil, that doesn't mean we can't spoil others children. We have spent quite a bit of time spoiling other children this holiday season and it has brought a lot of joy and hope into our home. Of course there still needs to be balance with this so it doesn't become painful. Even if it's painful to spoil the children in person it's fun to shop for children's toys to donate to anonymous children.

The third key thing that has helped more than anything is to keep our Christmas strongly Christ centered.  Having everything so centered on Christ has brought such a greater spirit and hope into our home. The message of Christ's birth is a message of hope and peace and we are all able to embrace that through any trials we go through. In a way Christmas has pulled us through the past month or so because we do have that constant reminder around us that there is hope!

Our holidays have been fabulous this year. We look forward to the holidays in the future when we will be blessed with a little one in our home, but for now we are just making the best of it all!