Embracing Holiday Traditions as a Family of Two

By Alicia Harper, REDBOOK

'Tis the season for embracing family traditions! This marks the second year that my son and I will celebrate the holidays as a little family of two. Last year, I was really worried he'd be missing out on something because his other parent was not around. Not only was I afraid of how others would judge my situation as a single mom, but I was also particularly afraid of how Aiden would judge our situation.

I was nervous he would think that his holiday was not measuring up to other family's holidays; that he would wonder why his pictures with Santa were only of the two of us and not with his other parent as well; that he would ask about his father's whereabouts when he saw families with mommies and daddies. It really stressed me out for a long time, but, at some point I began to realize that Aiden will judge our situation based on how he saw me dealing with it. Then, something marvelous happened. We made it through Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years with just us two. And you know what? It was kind of fabulous.

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f we can get through our first year as a family of two, then each consecutive year can only get better, right? Therefore, I've come up with a few things we can continue from last year and include on our work-in-progress Holiday Tradition List.

I don't exactly have much to go off of because, with the exception of decorating a Christmas tree, opening presents at midnight on Christmas Eve (when we weren't taking sneak peeks at them beforehand), my family didn't embrace many holiday traditions while I was growing up. But that didn't stop me from creating my own traditions with my son.

I thought it would be a great idea for Aiden to have memoranda with Old Saint Nick. But, the first year he took his Santa pictures, he did not like it. At all. And his sour face showed it all too well. (I still gave them out as holiday cards, though. It'll make for a great story to tell one day, no?) This year, the kid can't get enough of Santa! He talks about him all the time and will be the first to tell Santa that he has a "Transformer and a robot and a dinosaur and a Batman-the big one" on his Christmas list.

Not only will we take pictures with Santa again, but we'll also be enjoying the magical place that New York City transforms into during the holidays. Ice-skating at Bryant Park is a must; a stroll down 5th Avenue to relish in the major department stores' festive window displays is definitely in order; and a trip to Rockefeller Center. We'll spend time decorating our apartment until it "looks a lot like Christmas," and we'll bake cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas morning, it'll get really serious because I'll wake up ready to rock and roll with my camera ready to capture all the special moments. I'll make pancakes in the shape of a Christmas tree, and I'll have our favorite Christmas tunes bumping in the background. The look of excitement on my little guy's face as he tears apart the wrapping paper on each gift will be...priceless. Just thinking about it gets me psyched for this year because now it'll really start to feel like a family tradition.

Alicia Harper, M.A., Ed.M. is a single mother, freelance writer, blogger, and recent graduate of Columbia University who's now a mental health therapist. Her life is filled with all things pink, except for the one bit of blue -- her rambunctious 4-year-old son. Together they make a great pair, and Alicia chronicles the trials and triumphs of being a young, single mother living in NYC at Mommy Delicious. Find her on Facebook and Twitter.

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