Follow The Grief Toolbox 
- |
December Newsletter: Handling the Holiday Season - Part Two
Handling the Holiday Season - Part Two
The focus of this month’s newsletter continues with November’s theme: Handling the Holiday Season. It is our hope that you will find some practical ideas for surviving the deep sorrow and pain you may be experiencing at this time of year. If you did not receive or get a chance to read November’s newsletter: Handling the Holiday Season – Part One, the link can be found below.
To view Part One: Click Here
- An Empty Chair For The Holidays: Surviving The Season After Loss (Part II)
- Missing Your Parents During the Holidays Series: 7 Ways to Feel Better (Part 2)
- The Grief that Stole Christmas: Facing Holiday Fears
- How to Deal With Missing Someone Around the Holidays
- One Is Silver and the Other Gold-Holiday Traditions After Loss
- A Holiday Grief Exercise - Have a Cry Party
An Empty Chair For The Holidays: Surviving The Season After Loss (Part II)
By C. D Anthony
If you're struggling to cope with a loss, you well know just how devastating the days are when the holidays roll around. For Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years... Once grief is added to the mix, days of incredible childlike promise and excitement become mired in sorrow and heartache. Inspiration and gratitude become misery and pain.
Missing Your Parents During the Holidays Series: 7 Ways to Feel Better (Part 2)
By Lisa A. Snyder
Promise to take care of yourself like a little child. Finding a good therapist is one way of doing this. Your parents would want to you to live a happy life. I'd like to say thank you to all the therapists I've ever had and all the "bad" experiences I had a long the way because each brick was laid to bring me to learn which roads and experiences DO make me happy. I'd like to say I'm feeling happy today, and most days I'm feeling joy run through my body like a calm breeze.
The Grief that Stole Christmas: Facing Holiday Fears
By Jennelle Dippel
C.S. Lewis said “No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.” This can be especially true during the holiday season. Here are three big ones I faced during the first few Christmases without my mother, and my advice looking back.
How to Deal With Missing Someone Around the Holidays
How are the holidays supposed to be happy when you have loss someone dear to you? After the death of a loved one, special days such as anniversaries, birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and special events are difficult. The holiday season is especially difficult. You can't avoid the decorations, scent of pine, families gathering together for traditions of thanksgiving, shopping, gift giving, and celebrations.
One Is Silver and the Other Gold-Holiday Traditions After Loss
Nan Zastrow
Like the man in this true story, we, the bereaved, are remembering holidays that were once filled with good times and memories, rich and golden. The death of someone loved in our lives may have tarnished our memories and traditions. Our expectations of the holidays are far different than before.
Remember the verse: Make new friends, but keep the old... one is silver and the other gold. How simple this verse seems. Like silver and gold friendships, we can invest wisely in holiday traditions.
A Holiday Grief Exercise - Have a Cry Party
Dora Carpenter
The holiday season, as you once knew it, was a joyous time of celebration and family togetherness. When the pieces of the puzzle have been taken away, it might be challenging to find joy. It might be challenging to participate in the festivities of the season. Some have said they wish they could make November and December disappear from the calendar.
As a thank you to our newsletter subscribers you can take advantage of these special coupons:
 |  |
November Newsletter
To view Part One: Click Here
Our Newsletter
Thank you for reading this edition of our newsletter. It is our goal to make it a regular publication and to use it to keep you in touch with topics dealing with grief and loss. When it comes to dealing with grief, it can be a challenge to find the resources we need to educate ourselves and our loved ones on what is happening and how to best keep going forward. We will try to keep future issues as informative and interesting as we can. We encourage all of our readers to contact us with thoughts, comments, suggestions or contributions. We would love to hear from you!
We here at The Grief Toolbox understand that needs change as we go from the raw encompassing pain of the first year to the stark reality of the second year, and then to the growth and reinventing ourselves of the middle years to the acceptance and blessing that now coexists with the pain and love that will always be a part of our life. We cannot make your pain go away, nor can we provide answers for you. What we can do is help you to find the tools that you need to work through your grief journey.
