The Struggles of Holidays

The holiday season is referred to as “the most wonderful time of the year”. Sometimes it is the most stressful time of the year though. For obvious reasons such as the hustle and bustle of shopping, decorating, doing as many Christmasy things as possible, cooking for relatives, etc. 

But for us, the holiday season means we don’t get to see Daddy as much. He works countless hours a week and sometimes without any days off. (Family Business probs)
He is usually home just in time for Caden to go to bed. And the closer to Christmas Day, the more scarce Daddy sightings become. It’s hard. Especially on Caden.

Some days Caden cries and cries to see Daddy. He wants Daddy to play or put him down for his nap. He wants to talk to Daddy so we call.. and sometimes Daddy is too busy to answer. I try to explain that Daddy works hard for us to have the things we have and live the life we live. But Caden doesn’t understand. All he wants is Daddy. So we try to do all the fun things to mask the emotions we feel about Daddy not being home much.

Daddy misses a lot. And He wishes he didn’t have to. He misses out on the Santa pics, Christmas ornament decorating, Christmas cookie baking, etc. (and that’s just holiday-related things) 

Some days I wonder if it’s worth it as I look around at all we have: A beautiful, new home, new cars, nice clothes, nice stuff. 

But that’s not why he does it. And to think for a second that is the reason why he works so much is the devil lying! That’s not why he works so hard. He does it so mama can be there with Caden to experience all those fun activities with him. So Caden isn’t stuck at daycare all week. (Because even if mama worked, daddy would still be gone just as much: family business probs). And most importantly, so Caden can have a great life. 

Let me pause: This is not a pity-party-on-Tori story and I, by no means, am saying we have a rough life. It is just a reflection on how difficult the holiday season can be for our family. 

The family business life is a life Chris chose, and later on, a life we will choose to continue. (And maybe Caden will continue if he chooses to) 

So our holiday experience will always look a little different than most. But I am thankful it does.

It doesn’t look normal. And it certainly doesn’t FEEL normal. Sometimes I envy the posts of families going to Gaylord Ice together, or cozy Christmas vacations in a cabin together, or anything family Christmas related.

But there is a bigger picture: 

First of all, Chris’s work ethic goes unparalleled. (We could all take notes from him)
He would love to be home more and experience all the fun activities we get to do. He could take off work more or leave work a little earlier and and show up a little later and just “go through the motions” at work. 

But he knows the sacrifice he has to make for the role he, one day, will take on as a business owner. And that diligence and character is something I (and one day Caden) admires tremendously. Which makes holidays a little easier to swallow.

We are learning how to adapt to this life. We cherish the time we have together. 

We go on quick Christmas light-looking trips when daddy gets home. Even if it’s for 10 min. 

We make special visits to daddy (and poppa) at work so Caden can have an extra dose of daddy that day. 

We even decided to make a new Christmas Eve tradition.. Caden and I will bake Christmas cookies and take them to daddy (and poppa if he acts right) at work. 

Once again, this is not suppose to be a pity party on us because that would just be ridiculous. It’s merely insight on how different (or similar) our Christmas season is compared to the norm! 

We are thankful for this time of year of celebrating our Lord and Savior. We are thankful for family, family time, and family businesses.  

Although our life is crazy and not the least bit normal, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.