Couples Divide at Christmas Time

New couples are faced with the challenge of spending time apart  during the the holiday season.

This holiday season I am being challenged with a situation for the first time. Though I have had a lover before during this season of jolly, I have never actually been part of her family as I am with my current girlfriend. We have respectfully decided to spend Christmas with our individual families, but we are confronting the thoughts of what to do in following years, as she wants to be with her family and I with mine.

I know it sounds petty, there are problems that are much larger in the world, but I have had a few sad moments thinking that I am not going to wake up beside her on that snowy morning, kiss her under her hand-crafted mistletoe and  remind her that she is the best gift I could ever ask for. It is our first Christmas together afterall.

I don't have a quick solution, perhaps this is why I am thinking this one out so much. She has younger siblings and parents of her own, and I have a 12-year old niece, parents and siblings of my own. I know that sometimes you have to be away from the ones you love to appreciate them more, but I can't help but think of the lyrics from the Mariah Carey Christmas classic, "All I Want for Christmas is You" and feel slightly melancholic.

Speaking with other couples I have learned that they rotate holidays among their families, and I guess perhaps that is something her and I will have to think about. Or perhaps when we are more mobile to get between our two houses that are about an hour apart, we can just drive between the two (but who wants to not be drunk on Christmas!).What I realize it that I have my own little family now, and though I love and cherish all the Christmas' with my Mom, Dad, brother, sister and niece - I will certainly miss my baby boo on that cold yet fuzzy-warm feeling morning.

I am one lucky lady to have such wonderful people in my life, full of kindness and good energy. I think I will promise her that when I wake on Christmas morning I will call her and say "Merry Christmas baby, I love you." I guess that is the best I can do.