Mom Shares The Sad Reality Of Holidays With Adult Children — 'Cherish The Chaos, One Day It Will Be Gone'
One day, you will be yearning to hear their little feet running into your room at 5 a.m. on Christmas morning.
Evgeny Atamenenko | Shutterstock For some families, the holidays truly live up to what they are known for: the most wonderful time of the year!
Unfortunately for others, they are just painful reminders of what the holidays used to be for them.
One mom is getting candid about why having adult children during the holidays can be particularly hard and have you yearning for the past.
A mom urged parents of young children to ‘cherish the chaos’ during the holidays since it will be over before they know it.
While it may be a hassle to drag your kids to the mall to get your yearly Santa pictures, taking the time to let them help out with baking your favorite gingerbread cookies, and having them bound into your room and wake you up at 5 a.m. on Christmas morning, there will come a day where parents miss the chaos of having young children during the holidays.
One mother shed light on the sad reality for many parents whose children are all grown up. “As a mom of adult kids, you realize the magic of Christmas is gone,” she shared in the text overlay of a TikTok video.
“No one is excited about putting up the tree. No one to make go to bed early because Santa comes. No one to wake me up at 3 AM begging to see if Santa came.”
“Moms of little ones, cherish the chaos. One day it will be gone and you’d give anything to get it back.”
Other parents chimed in, telling the mom that they knew her pain all too well.
“This is so true I loved Christmas when my kids were little but now it doesn't feel like Christmas,” one TikTok user commented.
“I feel this is my soul. I would give my last breath to go back to the chaos,” another user wrote. “I don’t even have the motivation to put up the tree or decorate this year,” another shared.
Children often bring a sense of wonder and excitement to the holidays, making them feel magical for everyone, especially their parents.
Children find pure astonishment in the simplest of things, the twinkling lights, ornaments on the tree, and the red and white wrapping paper covering their gifts.
As they experience the magic of the holidays for the first time, so do their parents.
There is nothing like watching your kids’ eyes light up when they see the gifts under the tree, hearing them laugh as they watch their favorite holiday classics, and feeling their little arms wrap around the back of your neck for a hug when you tuck them in on Christmas Eve.
Evgeny Atamenenko | Shutterstock
As they get older and grow out of believing in Santa and flying reindeer, they may be less enthusiastic about the holidays.
They may not be interested in constructing gingerbread houses with their parents, decorating the tree as a family, and may even sleep in well after the sun rises, the gifts under the tree still untouched.
However, even though your kids will grow up, there is nothing stopping families from creating new and more age-appropriate traditions that will get them excited.
You can throw together a gift exchange every year where each member of the family is assigned another to buy a meaningful holiday gift for. You can have a cookie-baking contest where family members rate which one is the best.
You may not be seeing Santa at the mall or chauffeuring your Elf on the Shelf around every night, but the holidays can still be just as exhilarating as they were when the kids were younger.
While there may be far less enthusiasm about putting up the tree and staying up late on Christmas Eve to sprinkle reindeer food in the front yard, your grown children may be excited over the fact that they get to eat your home-cooked meals, watch you open the gifts they bought for you, and simply getting to push a pause button on life and unwinding with you during the holidays.
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Even if your holidays may look a little different than they used to, there is still a wonder in having your kids gather in their reindeer sweaters as adults, sharing memories and laughing over Dad nearly slipping off the roof attempting to hang up Christmas lights.
Still, if you have young children and find yourself feeling overwhelmed by the holiday chaos, try to take a few seconds to look at your kids in awe as they toddle over to Santa at the mall and capture them tearing open their gifts to look back on later.
The days may be long, but the years are short.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.