When the Holidays Shine and the Heart Still Misses

Dec 20

Dec 20 When the Holidays Shine and the Heart Still Misses

The holidays have a way of stirring the quiet corners of the heart. We hang lights, set tables, wrap gifts — but somewhere in the soft glow and familiar songs, grief pulls up a chair. It has changed shape over the years, becoming less sharp, less consuming, yet never fully disappearing.

Loss doesn’t leave us; it simply learns to live beside us. It becomes softer in some ways, more familiar in others. What once felt like a storm becomes a tide — still moving, still present, rising in unexpected moments. A scent, a song, an old ornament wrapped in tissue paper can open the door to memories that feel both like a gift and a pang of nostalgia.

And yet, there is a strange and tender beauty in this transformation. Our grief becomes a testament to love — how deeply we cared, how profoundly we were shaped by the ones who are no longer here. As the years pass, sorrow softens into reflection, heartbreak becomes gratitude, and the empty spaces become sacred places where love still lives.

So if this season feels different, heavy, or complicated, know you’re not alone. There is room for joy and room for sorrow; room for laughter and room for tears. Holidays can hold all of it. And so can we.

Here’s to the loved ones we miss, the memories that hold us, and the quiet courage it takes to move through a season that will never be quite the same — but still holds light.