How to spend Christmas??

Hi there, my husband passed on the 4th August and I was dreading Christmas too. It was always so special to us all, as he used to cook the whole Christmas Dinner, and we would spend ages chatting about the thoughtful gifts we had received. We decided that we just couldn’t face it this year at home. My adult children (who still live at home) and I, have just booked five nights away to the Canary Islands. Our border collie is going into kennels, and we are away from the 20th to the 26th December. Love Holidays have some great, All Inclusive holidays that are reasonably priced. I just knew the pain would be too much. Operation Survival is in full flow. Kind regards. 

Hi!

So sorry for your loss. I lost my husband last June (2023) so I am a little bit further on in my journey. Last Christmas was my first without him and it just came and went. He was the one who saw to all the prep for Christmas dinner and he would go `all out` for it sometimes cooking far too much. Cooking was his passion though and that's when he was happy when he was in the kitchen experimenting. I wish I had some ideas on how you can celebrate this first one but I am sure you will find your own way yes mostly everywhere will be closed but if you don't feel like cooking you could go out for Christmas dinner just to get out of the house for a few hours if you can't get away anywhere as Kate is suggesting. I was quite fortunate last year that my son and his partner invited my sister and myself to their house for `Christmas Lunch` which I assumed was just sandwiches etc but turned out to be a full blown dinner so that was us fed for the day so what I intended to have for Christmas dinner turned into Boxing Day dinner but nothing as elaborate as what my husband would come up with. Just being together on the day would be enough and try to make some new memories with your little ones and just keep talking about their grandad and keep his memory alive. My little granddaughter asked me one time where her `papa` was and I told her he lived with the angels now as the doctors and nurses couldn't make him better. She said does my papa live up in the sky now and I said yes he does and she said but granny I can't see him and I said to her you can't see him but he can see you so you need to be a good girl so that kind of settled her a little bit. You'll find your own way of how to do things. My best wishes to you moving forward. 

Vicky x

How about go away somewhere, either in or outside of the UK, and just spend it in a different environment. Hugs. xx

That sounds a lovely idea. I might look in to that x

He sounds quite the guy. Glad you got to the otherside of xmas ok. xx thanks so much for sharing x

Yeah i think that might be a good plan, thank you x

Hi there, I’m so so sorry for your loss. I lost my dad about 6 weeks ago, he was the heart and soul of Christmas in our family as well, and we’re also struggling with what to do this year. In our case, my family and I have opted for a change from the “normal” celebration that we would usually have had. As opposed to staying at home which we have always done, we’ve booked a Christmas lunch out so that no one has to worry about cooking, and we’ll most likely be going for a (long) walk or something like that. It’s such an individual topic and decision, but i am feeling marginally better about it knowing that there’s no expectation or attempt to recreate how the day's always been when he was here. Xxx