All I Want for Christmas is a Little Nip and Tuck

Erasing the humiliation and restoring the hope

So here we are again, poised on the brink of another glorious holiday season replete with pumpkin spice and harvest fairs, followed by Black Friday and the onslaught of Christmas.

When I begin to contemplate the holly jolly season, I unwittingly conjure images of all the ghosts of Christmases past, and my heart begins to ache. I think of all the warm and wonderful memories of holidays when my children were small and not thousands of miles away making new memories with their own families. I think of the extended break from teaching and all of the cozy merry-making with my husband of the past fifteen years. The blessing of both of us being teachers allowed us time to enjoy at least two weeks of freedom together to take a leisurely lunch, shop, hang out in bookstores or the library, go see the lights and spin under the Zilker tree, visit family, go to movies and binge watch our TV shows, and endless other festive things.

But this is my first holiday season without him; the divorce was final just weeks before the holidays. As he counts the days until his cross country move to begin his fresh life as a divorced man in California, I contemplate what’s coming from a less hopeful perspective. My children are my only family, and they will be across the world with in-laws…