A visitation case study with a special arrangement for Christmas.
Joe and Mary have to children aged seven and eleven. They are concerned not only about who should spend the various holidays with the kids, but also about taking care of the children during the holidays. After much discussion they agreed that all the holidays which fell on Monday would be taken by whichever parent had the children for that weekend. In cases where they both had to work on the Monday, it was agreed that a baby sitter would be hired to watch the children and that the responsibility of getting the baby sitter would be with the parent who had the children on that particular weekend.
Joe and Mary also ascertained that the holidays which were important to them during the year were Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and Memorial Day. They agreed that Thanksgiving, Easter and Memorial Day would be alternated on a year by year basis. With Christmas they wanted to make a special arrangement.
Joe’s family always celebrated Christmas eve with a big dinner. Mary’s family celebrated on Christmas day. It was, therefore, agreed that Joe would have the children every Christmas on Christmas Eve and that the children would spend the night with him. He would bring the kids to Mary’s house at nine thirty Christmas morning. The children then spent the balance of Christmas day with their mother and her family. It was also understood that if anytime in the future the situation changed then this part of the agreement would be renegotiable.
While both Joe and Mary would have liked to have taken extended vacations every winter with the children they realized that for financial reasons it might be impossible. Therefore, it was agreed that the two lengthy vacations would be alternated. The parent taking the children for the holiday would be responsible for providing day care during that school vacation.