Think of the holiday you’ve got a lot of memories around from being young up until now.

Thanksgiving is that holiday for me. It’s always been a favorite. I love food. I loved the flow of the day. Sometimes being with both sets of grandparents. Sometimes my mom would cook.

Most of my memories reside at my dad’s parent’s house. It was my aunt’s cooking together, each responsible for a different dish or dessert. All the men were in the living room and it was usually pretty freakin’ loud from in there. They were bickering about politics or football or whatever. There’s a lot of yelling when you’re watching the Detroit Loins, I’ve learned.

I loved that day. It was nothing short of fulfilling. I don’t think I spoke to my parents or sister the entire day, because I was bouncing between playing with my cousins, eavesdropping on the adults’ conversations, or stealing food.

After dinner, people would be cleaning, playing cards, eating pumpkin pie, pumpkin crunch (my fave!), or apple pies.

All of a sudden, it was 2015 and I was having Thanksgiving at my sister’s house. It was her and her (then) boyfriend’s first time hosting and so we were meeting his family for the first time as well.

I’ll never forget this moment… being there on the couch, my kids were playing with the toys she had out and this feeling of, “How did I get here?” or, “When did this happen?” washed over me.

Even saying, “I had Thanksgiving at my little sister’s house,” was so weird & foreign. It made me realize how my parents were the older generation now. All my grandparents and two of my uncles had passed away at this point. 

Thanksgiving had become this new thing all of us were trying to navigate together without that central place we’d always go to.

I was telling my friend how the holidays have become kind of weird, I think, because I never hung out with my family much growing up. I was surrounded by extended family. It was time spent with everybody else and now there’s a void. They’re all missing. So many have passed away and those of us left just don’t get together like we used to. So, it’s just different today, ya know?

So look at a holiday or special event with extended family.

• What’s changed throughout the years?
• What voids are you experiencing?
• What’s the same?
• What synchronicities have you seen through the years?
• What pieces do you expect to be everlasting pieces?
• What stories might come to an end?

Some of us are experiencing the things we’ve always experienced. Some of us are navigating the new and different and foreign. Holidays bring up a lot of feelings!

Going into this whole holiday season, not just Thanksgiving, look at all of those questions above.

• Look for the opportunities to connect with the people in your life over the memories you (once) shared.
• Is there a way to revive some of those old memories that felt wonderful, but came to a close because of life’s changes, losses, and new things that have blossomed?
• Are there ways you can create new traditions if you’re feeling a sense of a void?

Use these questions as journal prompts and see what comes up!

More Goodness:

• Register for the Get Off Survival Mode for 2020 webinar happening Thursday, December 5th: Click here to sign-up

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