Just like parenting special kids requires you to stay delicately balanced between structure and nurture, surviving the holidays with special kids requires you to be balanced between flexibility and tradition.

There are scores of books and articles out there on the importance of building traditions into your family’s celebrations. Super Dad and I reminisce often on our own families’ holiday traditions and our children always listen with rapt attention. I brag continuously on how awesome Halloween was in a small town that allowed us the safety and freedom to... more

I’ll admit that the art of flexibility was a hard one for me to learn as a young mother. I wanted perfect Martha Stewart holidays. But when I divorced and remarried, I threw that dream out the window. There is no way to have “perfect” holidays like you see in movies with all the comings and goings of extended blended family. I remember how painful the realization that our holidays were always going to be wrought with scheduling dilemmas was at the beginning...until I learned to let go and revise my own expectations of holidays.

When Kay was little, she’d alternate... more

My calendar keeps telling me that the holidays are right around the corner. My brain, however, can not seem to engage with the energy to plan for the upcoming events. What’s up with that?

I have to dig out scrapbooks and documents from years ago to remember the Type A Super Mommy I used to be. I was the one who did most of my Christmas shopping in August, had the entire Thanksgiving meal planned out by September, and was in full decoration mode by early November.

So, here it is November 13 and I can’t even wrap my head around what we’re doing for Thanksgiving,... more

In the wee hours of this morning, I found a spare moment. As I sipped my coffee, I browsed the many catalogs and magazines that had arrived at our house this week, full of holiday ideas and ways to make your holidays brighter, more festive, special, stress-free and definitely better than ever.

Pardon me for being a special mom of special kids, but I feel very disconnected from this whole holiday rush and fuss business this year. Yes, I know that the holidays are out there and rapidly approaching, but unlike the total Type A personality I used to be (who already had... more

Have you thought about creating family traditions with your adopted child? Think about your family’s tradition when you were growing up. Which ones did you like, which ones did you dislike? Is there something special that you always wished your family would do together, but didn’t? Remember when you are creating family traditions that they don’t have to be big, or expensive, just special.

One of my friends had always taken her children to Christmas town; it’s called Frankenmuth, to each choose a new ornament every year to place on the tree. When her children... more