Motherhood Later in Life: Celebrating Our Joy!

Since it's Christmas Eve, I would like to share with you a family tradition that we have. When my girls were young, I would read "It Was The Night Before Christmas" to them every Christmas Eve. Today, I'd like to read it for you. I hope you enjoy!

As Christmas comes around, my friends always debate on who is better -- Jesus Christ or Santa Claus. I'm not keen on joining these debates. I was raised by my deeply Catholic grandmother and grew up with Catholic traditions related to Christ. But my family also believed in Santa and we have never had any issues with the matter. My mother-in-law believes that I shouldn't raise my children believing in Santa but as far as I'm concerned, believing in both of them has made me a better, more hopeful person.

The Christmas spirit is a lot like the Parenthood spirit. You have to let go and accept that nothing comes out the way that we expected it, nothing works out the way it was meant to, and yet something beautiful still comes out of it!

Ariana Grande's lack of responsibility and sense of entitlement has made the pitfall of not teaching our children self-accountability or responsibility.

Children need to travel through the self-centered years that is adolescence. However, we should use their mistakes as teachable moments to help them become well-rounded adults.

This season, I received the most wonderful Christmas gift from my children -- the assurance that whatever I think I might have been doing wrong as a mother, my children were still going to grow up to be kind, generous, and giving adults.

By letting me see that they can focus more on the needs of others rather than their own, they've given me the best gift that a mother could ever ask for.

I've always loved celebrating Christmas with all the traditions attached to it. But when I was nine, my father had a very stressful time because of several piled up problems. He went home drunk on Christmas Eve and almost ruined everybody's Christmas when, in anger, he told my sister that Santa Clause does not exist. It was a shock for me too but I knew it was up to me to restore my little sister's faith in Santa.

When my twins were first gifted an Elf on the Shelf, it was quickly forgotten -- they were creeped out by the idea that it watches over them and reports to Santa. Later, we encountered it again when they were being sold for charity. The girls loved the idea so we bought two. Since then, the Elves have taken on matching personalities to our twins and excited us with their antics. When Dora and Bug joined our family, they Elves also brought along two more of their kind to take care of my new children.

I have always wanted to have four children ever since I was little. But circumstances have forced me to give up on getting pregnant again afer giving birth to my twin daughters. My husband and I have considered other options such as surrogacy and adoption. It seemed hopeless, but I didn't give up on my dreams. It took a while for us to finally get the chance to expand our family but when Dora and Bug came into our lives, the family I have always dreamt of was finally complete.

My girls were exposed to musicals before they were four through Disney productions. I felt that although these were great, they were missing the extravagance of theater musicals. When we took them to see Mama Mia, they were hooked. We all were. We bonded over the songs and the movies over the years. It's wonderful to see my girls passionately appreciate this dying art and I'm really hoping that when they have their own families, they shouldn't have to convince them to see Mama Mia in the theater as we did.

Entrepreneurship is out of my confort zone but I dipped my toes into it. Initially things went well until competitors pulled us down. But my determination to help support my children’s dreams and to continue selling the brand built in me and my twin's image opened the doors for me to build my own business-- apart from my husband who has a different working style and away from the controlling market giant wherein we initially sold things. This reminds me that there is nothing I wouldn’t do for my childre