Choose in advance when the kids will spend time with each parent during the holidays

My clients commonly have one parent with the kids all throughout Christmas Eve until bedtime, and then the other parent takes the kids overnight and through most of Christmas Day. The next year, the order switches. If this is your first holiday season after your breakup, the children should be able to wake up on the holiday morning and spend all holiday celebrations in the same family home in which they are accustomed, and should go through the same routines as usual. The divorce and the fact that Mom and Dad now live in different homes is enough of a shock for one year; keep their holiday stability intact, so that you change no more than one big thing at a time.