When the holidays come around, you automatically think of family. Is it a time to join together with those you love and reconnect with family you don’t see much during the year. The Thanksgiving and Christmas season is the time where you thank God for the people you have in your life and let them know just how much you love them. But undoubtedly during every year, there is love, and there is loss. Losing a loved one and not having them with you for the holidays is the most painful feeling for any family. This year is the first year without my cousin. We have experienced the type of loss that makes you know that they should be there with you, they should be with your family all together, but they are not. This makes things just a bit harder.
But as I say now to my family, and to all those who have to experience the holidays a bit differently this year, do not be sad, for they are always with you. It is a bittersweet feeling because they will not physically be with you, but you hold them in your heart and speak of all the good in them. It is not all sad, as I like to look at it. Take a positive outlook on it and use the time with family to be a positive one. Take this time of being together to give each other an extra hug and over use the words, “I Love You.” Take your loved ones memory and laugh about the things they did, tell the jokes they used to tell, tell stories of them that will make you all laugh for hours because you know that they are laughing with you. Do not mourn the loss of your loved one, but celebrate the life they had and the fact that you are lucky enough to call them family. Let this holiday season not be a time of sadness and pain, but a time of love and celebration and thankfulness for being a part of the family that you are in. Let this not be a time of touring and sadness, but of happiness and celebration. Make sure to see the good in your life and be thankful for all that you have. Be thankful for being blessed with the life and the people you have been given. I promise it will get easier.
Dear Loved One,
You’re always on my mind. Every day I think of you. From the day I got the news, you have been an imprinted, recurring thought on my mind. It hurts like h**l to know you are not here. But as the holidays come up, I am thinking more and more of you. Christmas Eve was our family tradition and I always looked forward to seeing you and all of our cousins that night. In the past years you haven't been there. I have missed you and always wondered why you would not be there anymore. We all used to have an amazing time and we all loved being with family. The past years without you just haven't been the same. This year though, will be just a little bit harder. Truthfully, I don't know just exactly how this Christmas will feel, I don't know exactly how I will handle it. From here on out, it truly will never be the same.
I wish more than anything you could be here with us, and with me. I am going to hold you in my heart now and forever. I love you, and I miss you more than words could ever describe. I know you are not here physically, but you are for sure in my heart as well as everyone else's. I will remember you in the happiest ways and hold the best parts of you close. I promise to not be sad and to stay strong, I promise I will be thankful for being able to call you family. I promise I will make sure that you live on through us. Just know that I will be thinking of you so much this year, and always. Merry Christmas, My God, how I miss you.
Love Your Little Cousin,
Elena
