Please share how you cope with the loss of a loved one during the holiday season. It just always seems a little tougher this time of year when our loved ones are not healthy enough or are no longer with us. Please share what you do to help fill in the lows.. While the spirit of Christmas is a joyous one sometimes it's hard to celebrate when something is missing.....

This is our second Christmas without my dad and as we move away from the difficulties of dealing with illness and aging its I find I miss him more and wish there he was here to share our lives today. We will honor him at WDW on our upcoming trip by making sure we remember him on his favorite ride. We will also work to cherish the time we have together because every day is special....

I am planning to bring a picture of him to take with us, though he's in our hearts a photo helps us to remember him. My dad purchased the DVC for us to share and it will be an honor to enjoy this trip because I know that is what he hoped for.....

The holidays can be such a challenging time, and this year will be no execption.   Right now we are missing my cousin, Allen.  We have great memories of him, he was such a wonderful soul.  I was so lucky to spend a Christmas Eve & Christmas with him and his family, and I cherrish those memories.  Allen was with us for a lot longer that we expected, so every day with him was a gift we will cherrish.  Thanksgiving a dear Uncle passed also, he had suffered a stroke and seemed to be rebounding.  We all take heart that they both will celebrate the holidays in Heaven. Right now several of us are using Facebook to share photos and memories of our loved ones.

Julie Hall  (aka Katbroad)

Disneyland, Mouse Squeeks

WDW... June 2011, I can't wait!!

November 29th made 2 years since we lost dad. I can honestly say that this Christmas is not any easier than the first one after we lost him. Heck, I still can't believe that I do not have mom here to share the holiday with us and it has been 16 years since she passed away.

I took over the roll of Christmas Eve family dinner at my house after we lost mom. The first Christmas after dad passed away my wonderful sister in law too over that year to make sure we were all together because she knew it was too much for us to handle. She had only known dad for about a year when she married my brother, Seeing how sick dad was getting she moved her Christmas wedding to September to make sure dad would be there for the wedding and be with his only son as he got married. I will forever be grateful to her for doing that as dad did not make it to the original date.

So now we try to keep our broken family together as much as possible. This year due to some bad choices I have another nephew that will not be joining us. The fact that our family is already small and breaking apart makes it really hard. We all grieve in our own way... some can not handle to holiday with out mom and dad.

We always end up telling stories and bringing back memories that turn to laughter and joy. But coming up to the day is never good. I do not know what each year will bring. But I know the door will be open and food will be cooked...

I put my two cents in

Kind of a sad day today.  Today would have been my Dad's 78th birthday.  He always said that nobody ever wanted to party with him on his birthday, since the next day was New Years Eve.  I can't believe its been 2 1/2 months since he passed. 

I think that everyone who goes ahead of us knows we miss them and think of them. I think when something suddenly reminds you of a loved one or they pop into your head all of a sudden, it's them, thinking of us too.

Angel, I'm sorry to see someone that you carry about being so poorly treated by another nurse. Unfortunately, some people get burnt out or should have never gone into the profession at all.  Believe me, I'm not trying to make excuses for the nurse. I've come across people like this myself and they should really know when to get out. I hope things have gotten better.

Angel do you all realize you are off topic here? This thread is about coping at WDW at Christmas w/o loved ones..... This can go in Pixie dust or Grand Gathering.... you're hijacking the thread    But to comment yes I know what it's like with some horrible nurses that were so burned out they needed to get out of homehealth... but to tell you would be too graphic here...