OUR BIG, HAPPY BLENDED FAMILY

When Vicky Saynor, 45, met her partner, her family quickly trebled in size

- FIONA KINLOCH

My husband Chris, then 44, and I sat back and watched as the kids, Poppy, 15, Felix, 12, Mylo, 10, and Willow, eight, dug deep into their Christmas stockings and unwrapped the little gifts. ‘Look what I got Mum!’ Mylo said, holding up a Lego figure.

It was Christmas 2020, and my favourite time by far. The 25th always starts in the same way in our house, with the kids opening their stockings before a morning walk. Then we all sit around the tree unwrapping our presents before I whip up a brunch of pancakes and syrup, sausages and bacon, and we get stuck into a family board game.

Only, come 2pm, our family Christmas Day is cut short as the kids leave to spend time with their other parents. And, while it’s been this way for the last eight years, it still remains one of the hardest realities of living in a blended family.

STARTING OVER

When I gave birth to Mylo in May 2010, I’d been with his dad for two-and-a-half years. But when Mylo was just six weeks old, his dad and I split and he moved out of our family home.

Being a single mum to a newborn was tough, and in between caring for Mylo and running my hair-and-beauty salon in London, there was no time for romance.

By 2012, though, the salon was doing well and Mylo was that bit older, so I decided it was time to get back in the dating game, and I signed up with an online dating site. I had a few unsuccessful dates, but then, in summer 2013, I came across Chris’ online profile.

He’d been separated from his wife for nine months and was going through a divorce. But that wasn’t what bothered me – it was the fact he had three kids.