Do you find yourself waxing sentimental when the ‘season of love and giving’ comes rolling around each year? Are you missing that ‘someone special’ and feeling as if your holiday will be inconsequential, incomplete, without their presence?
My memories of holidays gone by are bittersweet. Christmas was my most joyful holiday until the year my mother, Leah, died. It was tough enough to deal with her death which was tragic and ‘out of the blue’, but having it occur two weeks before Christmas hit me hard. I can still to this day, hear her reminiscing about Christmas being ‘our’ favorite holiday.
Grieving the loss of a loved one around the holidays somehow causes the grief to weigh heavier, as the absence of our loved one’s physical presence feels more pronounced. More noticed.
My father, Woody, who passed into spirit last year, had a knack of comforting me with his compassionate wisdom and often reminded me that “as long as we have memories, we have everything.” Memories certainly keep the love alive and our loved ones in spirit close, they help us to feel the nearness of them and they certainly serve as a soothing elixir.
I take delight in answering the door when I hear them knocking and inviting them in to sit a spell, connect and celebrate our love. Also, connecting and communicating with those in the spirit realm is, in and of itself, a soothing elixir. It provides an excellent opportunity to reconnect and feel the love. Listen and be listened to. Give and receive.
Over the years I have learned we do not need to be alone or suffer from feelings of missing our family or friends, especially during the holidays. They, our loved ones in spirit, have made it perfectly clear that they are closer than we may realize, seek our comfort and love and enjoy celebrating the holidays with their family members as well.
There is more to life than meets the eye.
I am reminded of an excerpt from my favorite story, “Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus” which reads: “Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.”
Comfort is everywhere – simply allow yourself to feel it, when you do, joy will rush in to fill your heart.
Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year to One and All!
© 2019 ALL Rights Reserved. Listen To Thyself with Diane Marie Ford. Share this article to your heart’s content, but please do not use it without my written permission. Thank you.