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First Christmas without Mom
Submitted by dressitup on Sun, 10/23/2005 - 14:44.
My mom passed away on Valentine's Day and this will be our first Christmas without her. I am really struggling with how to handle the holiday. The kids range from 21 to 10, so they are old enough to understand, but it's still tough. Dad is like a fish out of water, so it is up to us to make everything happen. Also, how do I write a Christmas letter? We've had a lot of wonderful things happen this year that I want to tell people about, but I can't leave out my mom, hubby's grandma and our favorite babysitter passing away within months of one another. Any suggestions? Thanks.
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Heart goes out . .
My heart goes out to you and your family for a difficult year.
This Christmas will be the 3rd Christmas without my mother. As an only child whose parents divorced when I was young my mother was my rock. Even though my father is still a part of my life it often feels like family is not as important to him as it is to me so I have to plan holidays without both of my parents in a way.
The first Christmas after my mother passed away many thought we would just not celebrate. Well my mother is who gave me my love for Christmas and I felt like I would not be honoring my mother.
What I did was to find ways to intergrate her into our holiday celebration. Little reminders that she is still with us. We put up a tree which includes pictures of those who have passed during the year and before that were important in our life.
I also do other little things like put out oranges and nuts which were important to my mother's celebrations as a carry over from her childhood. I also make cookies she and I made together and continue a tradition she started with my children of getting them a certain ornament each Christmas (daughter gets angels and son gets mooses) and they are given in memory of "Nana".
as for your Christmas letter - I highly recomend that you include these events in the letter - it makes your life seem more real - for me the idea of a Christmas letter is for you to let others know what has happened the past year - happy and sad. Let others know you are not "perfect" and have ups and downs throughout the year.
I hope I have helped some.
Krisann Blair
www.ChristmasOrganizing.com