Coping with holiday Grief

The holidays can be decked with sadness, especially if you’ve suffered a divorce, separation, a debilitating health issue or death of a loved one, but help is available.
News 25’s Toni Miles joins us live from first United Methodist Church in Gulfport where a program is in place to help those who are grieving, especially during the holiday season.
“Wonderfully blessed by the best 24/7.” Trademark words of Mrs. Margaret Elizabeth Mack Harden during an interview back in 2015 as the retired South Mississippi educator and daughter, Sherida, talked about Mrs. Harden’s battle with dementia and Alzheimer’s. With the two even featured in a promotion for a fundraiser to fight Alz, the debilitating disease that eventually led to Mrs. Harden’s death in May of this year. Sherida said, “It’s going to be a little hard. This is my first Christmas without her. She was my best friend.”
And to many, including Sherida’s father, who lost the love of his life, too.
Sherida says leaning on the support of others, especially during this initial round of holidays, helps. “Just had Thanksgiving dinner with my friends, my coworkers, my father.”
St. Joseph Chaplin Scott Williams says times like Christmas often bring the loss of a relationship, one’s debilitating health or the passing of a loved one into sharper focus. “During that period it just brings the grief more to the forefront, and the grief that people feel, and if it’s within that first year it’s much more intense.”
Chaplain Williams says reaching out and celebrating the lives of loved ones who have passed can help ease the pain. “I always say, the way you feel is very normal. It’s not out of whack. It’s what’s supposed to be happening, but try to develop memories that are pleasant, remember the things that mom or dad or your brother, whoever this is, used to love at Christmas, traditional things you did – things they liked to eat, that kind of thing, which helps bring those good memories back to the picture.”
Gone but keep their memory alive, celebrate they life lived and the legacy they leave behind.