So this is my first big holiday without my Mom. Well i guess Thanksgiving would have been but I worked that day and pretty much ignored that a holiday even existed. Christmas will be different as I will be heading home to spend time with the family who are each in their own place of grieving. It's hard to get in any Christmas "spirit" as I find it hard to really celebrate anything right now. When my friend passed away, I MADE myself continue to make my homemade Christmas cards that she loved so much. She even got inspired by them and started up her own line of cards that far surpassed mine. I so regret that we never got to use her new giant craft room together to work on our creations.
   My brother keeps talking about how we need to make "new traditions" and part of me realizes that that is true...but it's too early for me to be thinking that way. I miss my Mom. I want her here. I don't want to have to paint on a smile and fake an attitude that I really don't feel around people.
  I am sure many of you can relate. How are you coping? What plans do you have to celebrate the lives of those we lost? Sending holiday hugs to everyone.