How to cope during the holiday when a loved one is away.

Holidays are the most difficult time to have a loved one away from home.  Family  Traditions are built over the years, and is  what we have created  making our holidays special in our hearts. We have built in  holiday habits and they are  sometimes hard to change. Specially  when you are not the one wanting to change them. I learned during deployments And if you try to continue trying to keep your holiday the same as the past  you will be very disappointed. I found you will experience feelings of loss and sadness comparing what it was like in the past.

To make this time special for you and  everyone around you, I suggest you  first start with a mind change.  Be willing to change your traditional habits this holiday and create some new ones. This will be fun creating something new.

My grandchildren were use to celebrating their holiday with their mother and father. During deployment they were unable to see their parents. I knew this was hard for my granddaughters and my daughter deployed. So I thought lets make this a different time for all. I asked my granddaughters, “ How did they want to celebrate?”. They shared what they missed , but what they wanted to have. This helped them express their feelings and my feelings too!

It was fun making up new family traditions during deployment. The children got excited creating something new.

So be a kid again, explore  fun ways to celebrate. They will remember these times and it will be a new tradition for them.

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