Guest Post by Donna Swanson, a legal blogger for the Law Offices of Daniel Jensen.

For many families, the holidays tend to center around families and friends. From Thanksgiving through the New Year, many people make a special effort to see their loved ones and spend time with their family. This often manifests as traveling to visit family and going through familiar family traditions. While this can be extremely exciting for many, it can be, unfortunately, particularly difficult for those going through a divorce or learning how to cope after a recent divorce.

In a divorce, a person not only separates their life from their previous spouse, but also that person’s family and friends. For some, this is not as much of an issue; however, for other people, trying to figure out what to do and how to cope without these traditions and people can be especially hard. Although it does get easier as more time passes, there are certain ways that a person can prepare him or herself so that the holidays are not as difficult.

Making the holidays easier to manage after a divorce may come easy for some; however, no matter how amicable or easy a person’s divorce was, it may be best to consider the following tips in an effort to ensure the holidays go as well as possible:

• Start new traditions – the holidays are rife with traditions. From choosing a Christmas tree to cooking Christmas dinner, people tend to do the same activities year to year and place significant value on these. While many of these can continue after divorce, some cannot. As such, coming up with new traditions that replace some of these old traditions cannot only help you solidify the fact that you are starting a new life, but also help you avoid focusing on the old traditions.
• Make plans in advance – the holidays typically require a great deal of planning to make things work between family and friends. This can be exaggerated when you are divorced, particularly if you have children with your ex-spouse. In order to minimize the effects this has on you and your family, not to mention avoiding unnecessary frustration and anxiety, it is usually best to plan out as many activities, traveling, and custody plans with your ex-spouse as possible.
• Take your mind off things- whether it is scheduling more dinners and outings with your friends or working with charities, seeing people and enjoying different activities can help you from dwelling on negative thoughts and feelings.

These tips can help you ensure that you are taking all necessary steps and allow you to focus on things to make your holiday season a happier one.