Focusing On What Matters Most During The Holidays

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Family is everything to me.

My world spins around my two little girls, Julia and Sophia. After struggling with infertility for over 3 years, I never dreamed I would be a mother to two precious girls. I will always place them first when I count my blessings. Julia is 9 and Sophia is 7.

I’m also blessed to be a very active Auntie to Janice’s 7 year old daughter Olivia and her 12 year old son Jackson. They live two blocks away and we always joke that I’m their “Mommy #2”.

And my mother — who just turned 74 — is the most devoted mother and generous woman anyone could imagine. Since she lives just down the road with Janice and her children, we’re all extremely close and see each other daily.

Such makes up the core of my family and those whom I share about online. I do have other family members and close friends who matter very much indeed, but they prefer I not share about them online. (Not everyone leads a blogger’s life. LOL)

Since we don’t have much extended family, our holidays are rather relaxed and reasonably small gatherings. Although, our wild children wound up on the excitement of Christmas do seem to make a house seem very full, very quickly.

Our family holiday traditions are simple and we still enjoy the same trusted Christmas dinner menu that we’ve had throughout my life… Turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes and yams, along with lots of vegetables and cranberry from a can! Yes, I think the best cranberry comes straight out of a can.

Unlike some of my friends with big families and lots of holiday traditions, our Christmas celebrations are quite simple… but they’re still special.

The biggest change to our family Christmas traditions would be the photos.

When we were kids, my father always took the photos and every year once the Christmas dinner was served, he’d jump up and say he had to take a photo. We all tried to smile while he snapped the big group shot at the table, when really we all just wanted to dig into dinner.

Now my father has passed away, Janice is the photographer and we’ve transitioned to taking those “Christmas” shots ahead of time, so that we don’t have everyone complaining that dinner’s going cold.

While our traditions may be simple, and I only travel two blocks to get to dinner, I try to focus on what matters the most during Christmas and every other day of the year… Family.

I absolutely LOVE the message behind the new TYLENOL^® For What Matters Most™ campaign… family matters regardless of the dynamic or makeup of your family.

This message is especially close to my heart since both Janice and I are single moms who co-parent with our children’s fathers. Our families are no longer traditional, but they aren’t “broken” either… rather they are modern families overflowing with love.

I feel one of the unique opportunities of parenting after divorce is the ability to model real-life conflict resolution and forgiveness. We can show our children how we work together on the most important job in the world – parenting – even when we live separately.

So when I was asked to spread the message of this modern spin on Norman Rockwell’s classic holiday painting, Freedom From Want, to illustrate modern families coming together to celebrate what matters most during the holidays, I agreed happily.

For 60 years, the makers of TYLENOL^® have helped to care for families. To celebrate the holidays this year, the makers of TYLENOL^® decided to help spread the message that while modern families may not look like Norman Rockwell’s iconic painting, they share the same themes of love and togetherness.

I have received information about the TYLENOL^® For What Matters Most™ campaign from McNeil Consumer Healthcare Division of McNEIL-PPC, Inc., the makers of TYLENOL^®. The opinions stated are my own. This is a sponsored post.

Written by Susan Carraretto, co-founder of 5 Minutes for Mom
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