Holidays, birthdays and anniversaries are often joyous. But special family occasions can feel bittersweet, lonely or sad when someone you love has died. If you've lost someone close to you, Legacy has experts and other resources to help you cope during holiday seasons and throughout the year.
Flickr Creative Commons / Luz
Join a discussion and talk with others about surviving special occasions, or browse below for advice from grief and loss experts.
What do you do—or avoid doing—to help you get through the holidays? How do you handle your loved one's birthday or death anniversary? Share your tips in the comments section below.
Holidays
• Coping with the Holidays after Loss
• There Are No Decorating Police
• Dealing with the Holiday Blues
• Getting Through the Holidays
• Take Care of Yourself While Grieving
• 6 Simple Steps to Grief Relief
• Family Reorganization After a Loss
• Relatives Can Be Good Resources
• Learning to Live Healthily with Loss
• Give Yourself a Holiday Gift
• Embrace the Mystery of Grief
• Moving Forward, Connected Still
On the Anniversary of the Death
• Coping with the Anniversary of a Death
• Solace on the Anniversary of Your Mate's Death
• A Season of Change and Anniversaries
• $13.33 - Remembering Dad on the Anniversary of His Death
• Remembering the Anniversary of a Death
• Legacy Letters: Moving on with life & love
How to Help
• Remembering the Anniversary of a Death
• Grieving Loss During the Holidays
• Reaching Out on Father's Day
Comment
I just lost another close family member, my only sister, Nov 18, 2011. I'm starting to think Nov is not my time of the year! I have lost my 2 brothers, my husband and now my sister in the month of Nov. Each death was also sudden. I have no other living family that is older then myself, except one 1st. cousin and she is the oldest living family member, I'm the next and I'm only 61yrs. old. Thanksgiving and Christmas has never been the same since my little brother died, Nov 22, 1974. Nine years and one day from being the exact day, Nov 23, 1983, my older brother died. My husband died Nov 12, 1991 and now my last and only sibling.
It's been a month now, since I lose my Big Brother, one of 5 brothers and 5 sisters. 'm the oldest. We buried our parents and for that We, were blessed that the folks did not buried one of their children. I'm the oldest and the lost of oldest of the boys has hit me hard. The pain and void in my heart feels the absents in my soul. He & I were head of the family, we could only try to fix the disgreedments amoung members of the our family. We, always seem to know how to agreed with one another-He was the DON of our family and I was his Big Sis, who he could always count on for anything. He knew as I did that I would be there by his side with notice or summons. His, wife and children always came 1st but never second did he put his brothers and sisters. He was our Rock and I so miss him-and selfishly wish he could have hang on a little longer, but his pain and suffering no-longer could hang on and he left us. To a better place it is told...that's the misery of death and how to understand the pain of his lose. Thanksgiving Holidays will never be the same another more, because of his passing. I pray to understand and accept the he is in a better place then here on earth with all of his love ones.
It has been said that you should talk to the dead because they can hear you. Photos have been taken that show the deceased are around or even touching you. Do not care what others think.
I don't know what I am going to do for the holidays this year. This will be my first year without my brother for Christmas and thanksgiving and my birthday...and I dont want to celebrate any of them...I am so afraid. I am so afraid that I am not going to make it...The only fear I have is that I might not make it to heaven.
This past November near Thanksgiving it was a year that dearest nephew Ismael flew in a cloud to
to heaven to be near our savior Jesus whom he loved very much. He was like a son to me even there was no blood related to me. I saw him growing to be a handsome, smart jouyful young man in a spite of his bitterness growing up without a mother's care. I miss him so much but I know he's in a very loving hands; our Lord!
I lost my son Jon in 2003 at the age of 20. I have gone through all of the emotions connected with losing a child. My comfort comes from not letting Jon's death destroy me or my family. I want his life and death to leave a positive effect on this earth. I began doing simple things like saying a kind word to someone. For each unexpected positive thing I did, I told myself I was doing it for Jon. In turn I received the gift of hearing a kind "thank you" and seeing a beautiful smile. I don't know why I had to lose my child and why my son's life was cut short. But I do believe that his spirit lives on. For with this belief I strive to live honoring the child who will forever be part of me. I also have a website where parents can share stories of how they have felt a connection with the child they lost. www.thechildwelost.com at google.
I lost my dad August 1st and now my husbands grandma the 10th of December. Grandma had been in a nursing facility for six years and was one month shy of being 100 and my father was 80. My sister and I found our dad in his bed at home with his little dog sitting on his hand. Oh talk about heartwrenching. We always had holiday gatherings at my house and it seems like he should be walking in the door any minute. I had just seen my father on Friday and hugged him and told him I loved him not knowing that would be my last hug and kiss. I talked to him on Saturday and then Sunday morning we found him. It kills me that he was all alone unlike my grandma who had family around and her son was holding her hand. I wonder when the pain will get better. My children grew up next door to grandma and grandpa so they were so blessed to have the experience of that. Her name for her was "Grandma next door" and she loved it. My faith has gotten me through alot even this double whammy but it is so hard to not fall apart sometimes.
I lost my dad August 1st and now my husbands grandma the 10th of December. Grandma had been in a nursing facility for six years and was one month shy of being 100 and my father was 80. My sister and I found our dad in his bed at home with his little dog sitting on his hand. Oh talk about heartwrenching. We always had holiday gatherings at my house and it seems like he should be walking in the door any minute. I had just seen my father on Friday and hugged him and told him I loved him not knowing that would be my last hug and kiss. I talked to him on Saturday and then Sunday morning we found him. It kills me that he was all alone unlike my grandma who had family around and her son was holding her hand. I wonder when the pain will get better. My children grew up next door to grandma and grandpa so they were so blessed to have the experience of that. Her name for her was "Grandma next door" and she loved it. My faith has gotten me through alot even this double whammy but it is so hard to not fall apart sometimes.
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