Every day ’til Christmas, we’re sharing a story from your family at FN. Would you rather get them straight to your inbox? Click here and choose “Christmas Stories: (Daily Emails Dec 2015).”
My Christmas story is one that many would consider broken, and I’ll admit, I did too for a while. But as an adult, I look back at the love and patience my parents put into my 16th Christmas with a memory of not brokenness, but with a memory of sacrifice and new beginnings. You see, that Christmas my parents already knew they were getting a divorce. That’s right, the big D word. My sister and I gathered, as we did every year, to celebrate Jesus, open gifts, and gripe about how nice it would be to actually get some snow on Christmas Day. We had no knowledge of the turmoil our parents were hiding inside; they managed to pull off one more Christmas as a family of four.
None of us enter into a marriage hoping it will end in divorce but the reality is that sometimes divorces happen. That reality isn’t always pretty, and it definitely wasn’t for my family. It was years of work and hurt and confusion before I could understand the amount of patience and respect my parents put into not just that last Christmas but into all the changes we were going through as a family.
My parents had to begin to raise me and my sister in two different loving and respectful homes. They had to put their differences aside and stand united for our family. Even after both remarried, my sister and I witnessed love and that it doesn’t end just because a marriage does. They don’t let the fact that their marriage didn’t work interfere with our happiness or the respect that they show each other for the sake of us girls.
It’s true that every child wants their parents to go through marriage happily ever after but I’m forever grateful that my parents worked to make my 16th Christmas (along with the other past and the upcoming future) memorable and meaningful.
Today’s story is by Jennifer Ragsdale.
Jennifer was recently married to Spencer Ragsdale and is enjoying her time as a newlywed despite trying to figure out how one man can compile so much laundry. She’s is a Certified Professional in Human Resources and enjoys spending her time outdoors, with family and friends, and strengthening her relationship with God.