Just checking in to let you know I did okay today. Possibly because I tried to be pretty damn gentle on myself, and mostly succeeded. It helped that the kids gifts went over well, the food was plentiful, and expectations were if not low they were at least realistic. The company of my ex-wife also helped, although I suspect she was being overly kind to me so I didn’t do any awkward griefing. We watched the kids open the gifts and their briefly happy faces, and it was nice to share that after more divorced parents 50/50 Christmases than I like to think about. I know it’s a rough time of the year for many, and I’m feeling pretty lucky that it was kind of good. May you walk away from day in one piece x