cremation services in Sun City, AZ

Should Holiday Traditions Change Because of Death?

After cremation services in Sun City, AZ, the grieving process begins as you make your way forward in life without a cherished loved one. It might be a parent, a grandparent, a spouse, a sibling, or a very close friend that you’ve spent a good part of – if not all – of your life with.

You might find yourself often saying or thinking that you can’t wait to tell them news or that they used to say or do certain things that helped when you were down, you were happy, or you just needed someone to talk things through with. Those moments can be bittersweet, but they can also be soothing memories as well.

But holidays are often different, especially the first ones after your loved one has died. Maybe your mom always hosted a big family get-together or made special dishes or desserts on each holiday (the only time of the year she made them). Maybe you and your dad had a holiday tradition of working on a project together. Maybe you and your spouse or you and one of your siblings always took a short trip together during one of the holidays.

Whatever traditions were passed down in your family will be looming large as you approach a year of holidays without the loved one who started the tradition or was a large part of it. Does that mean that the tradition should end?

It depends. Obviously, if you took a trip with your loved one at certain holidays each year, they will not be there to travel with you. Going alone may seem like the worst idea in the world, while going with someone different may seem like the second worst idea in the world.

However, as time passes, you may find yourself nostalgic for travel during the holidays you used to travel with your loved one, and going alone may be therapeutic. If you took trips to faraway places, you may find that you want to stay closer to home, but you still want to get away and just spend some time alone, reminiscing and remembering your loved one.

But family holiday traditions, if they’re important to you, should definitely be continued. You may not have the room or the ability to host a huge family get-together on a holiday – and it may be that none of your siblings cares about that or wants to do it – but you can keep the tradition of making special dishes and desserts that were done each year during certain holidays.

If doing projects with your dad was a holiday tradition, you may want to do something creative during the holiday as an homage to his memory. It might be a simple as putting a puzzle together or as complicated as building or creating something that your dad would have built or created.

Or it could be something different altogether: you could learn to do a new creative thing like painting, drawing, or pottery and you could use that knowledge to make something that reminds you of your dad.

Be prepared, however, when other family members may not honor those traditions by confining them to just the holiday that your loved one created or passed them on for. You may be surprised, for example, that one of your siblings makes a special dish or dessert that was reserved for a certain holiday all year round. Try to remember that it may not have the same significance for them that it has for you, so let them be, even if it upsets you.

For more information about cremation services offered in Sun City, AZ, including grief resources, our caring and knowledgeable staff at Simply Cremations & Funeral Arrangements is here to assist you. You can visit our funeral home at 16952 W Bell Rd., Ste 303, Surprise, AZ 85374, or you can call us today at (623) 975-9393.

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