Parenting 101

How to survive the holidays as a divorced parent: 5 tips that will help remove the bitter

Divorce attorney Cindy Diggs offers tips on how to best handle holiday stress as a divorced parent.

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While December festivities are meant to rouse feelings of glee and merriment, the polar opposite can be true for families that have experienced any type of loss. Social gatherings can turn from being joyful occasions to reminders of what or who is missing around the dinner table.

Divorced parents know this all too well as navigating family affairs can be stressful on both adults and children. But don't fret: Help is on the way.

"Be the grown up. Don't let on to your children that you're anxious about being alone."

In this short Houston's Voice video, board certified divorce attorney Cindy Diggs of Holmes, Diggs & Eames offers simple lifestyle tips on how to best handle holiday stress. Among Diggs' suggestions is to start new traditions if old habits conflict with the other parent's schedule or if they become too expensive for a single spouse.

"Be the grown up," Diggs says. "Don't let on to your children that you're anxious about being alone so that your children won't worry about you. They have enough to worry about as it is."

Above all, Diggs says to give time over money. Quality time, not pricey gifts, is what will render an occasion memorable.

Watch the video above (or click here) to learn more survival skills so that you and your loved ones make the best of the gift-giving season.

Editor's note: Hidden Houston, an interactive multimedia series, aims to reveal the many things that are unique about the Bayou City and its surrounding areas.

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SAFE SPACE

2 Houston neighbors ranked among the top 10 safest cities in Texas

Steve Francis home estate Memorial Villages

Photo by Kevin Ward

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Judging by the headlines, locals might think they're going to be accosted every time they leave home, but a new report says the Houston area is home to two of the safest cities in Texas. Home security review site SafeWise has ranked the communities of the Memorial Villages (No. 3) and Fulshear (No. 8) on its recent list of towns unburdened by crime worries.

For its 2026 report, SafeWise factored in FBI-reported property and violent crime data for 343 cities, then adjusted it for population in order to fairly compare metros to rural and suburban towns. Although the rankings do provide a snapshot, the site says “a number of factors, including local agency reporting practices, community resources, prevention efforts, and lived experience all influence how safe a place is (or is perceived to be).”

The rankings were released with SafeWise’s State of Safety survey, which found that perception didn’t always gel with reality. Although the statewide property crime rate of 23.4 incidents per 1,000 people is slightly higher than the national rate, Texas’ violent crime rate of 4.44 incidents per 1,000 people is consistent with the national average.

Still, Texans feel less safe than the average American. Only 49 percent of the survey’s respondents say they feel safe in the state compared to the national norm of 52 percent. 55 percent said they worry about their safety on a daily basis, a year-over-year increase from 52 percent. The data contrasts with first-hand reporting. For the second year in a row, Lone Star State participants said they have had few personal experiences with property crime and package theft.

Elsewhere in Texas, Fair Oaks Ranch was the only San Antonio area city to make it to the list, which favored towns of 30,000 residents or fewer. The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan statistical area had the most ranked cities. The full top 10 includes:

No. 1 — Trophy Club (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
No. 2 — Parker (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
No. 3 — Memorial Villages (Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land)
No. 4 — Melissa (Dallas-Fort Worth)
No. 5 — Fair Oaks Ranch (San Antonio-New Braunfels)
No. 6 — Whitehouse (Tyler)
No. 7 — Murphy (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
No. 8 — Fulshear (Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land)
No. 9 — Colleyville (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
No. 10 — Lumberton (Beaumont-Port Arthur)

safety suburbs crime rankings