It was a very Midwestern Christmas this year for Katie Holmes and daughter Suri Cruise.** For Holmes' first yuletide holiday since her divorce from Tom Cruise**, the actress, 34, took her 6-year-old daughter with her to celebrate with her family in her hometown of Toledo, Ohio, two sources confirm to Us Weekly.

"Suri went to spend Christmas with Katie's family back home," one insider says. "There was never a doubt that Katie would have Suri for Christmas morning." Adds the insider of the NYC-based tot: "Katie thinks getting Suri out of the city is healthy for her -- seeing how life is outside of their world there."

By Dec. 26, Holmes was back in the city to resume performances of her Broadway play Dead Accounts. Her little girl, meanwhile, joined her father Tom -- and step siblings Conor and Isabella Cruise, Tom's kids with second ex-wife Nicole Kidman -- in Telluride, Colo..

What does 2013 hold for Holmes? "Katie is an incredibly strong woman," a source says, adding she's "on a mission to not be coddled, she doesn't want to be looked upon as Tom Cruise's ex any more."

This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Suri Cruise, Katie Holmes Spent Christmas Together in Ohio