7 Unique Ways to Celebrate Your Loved One This Christmas

Here are some of our favorite crafts that your family could do together this holiday to help your family embrace the true reason for the season.

1. Memorial Candle

Candles have a special place in memorialization. They help us feel as though we are actively honoring or celebrating someone, by lighting a candle in their memory. One way that you can help your family feel this connection.


2. ‘Save A Seat’ Sign

Help your family feel as though their loved one is still very much a part of the Christmas festivities with a beautiful sign that calls on people to remember. This beautiful plaque reads: “Christmas in Heaven. What do they do? They come down to Earth to spend it with you. So save them a seat, just one empty chair. You may not see them, but they will always be there.

3. Wooden Photo Ornaments

Decorating the tree is one of the most important and memorable parts of the Christmas season. So why not help your family make their loved ones a part of the decorating, even after they are gone. These simply to make photo ornaments are a beautiful addition to any Christmas tree, and help bring memorialization into the tree decorating process.

 

 

 

 

 

4. Remembrance Stocking

It wouldn’t be Christmas morning without the opening of our Christmas stockings. Help your family complete their family Christmas mantle display by creating a stocking that is truly representative of their loved one – because it is made with some of their favorite worn items! Encourage your family to bring in their loved one’s favorite dress, jeans or even Christmas sweater, and help them make a personalized stocking that can hang on the fireplace for years to come.

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. “A Few of My Favorite Things” Ornament
A photo is not the only way to remember someone around the holidays. You could also make a wonderful ornament memento with some of their favorite items or pieces of clothing. In this tutorial, the author uses fabric shears from her late father’s different shirts and combines them all into a clear glass ornament to hang on her Christmas tree – complete with a personal note from her dad that she will always cherish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Holiday Card Book

Over our lifetime, many of us save up a nice collection of greeting cards, whether it’s for birthdays, holidays, weddings, you name it. But we never actually do anything with these cards, other than when we run across them while moving or cleaning out old boxes. With this DIY, help your family put sentimental holiday cards from their loved ones on display in a beautiful book that they will flip through and look at each holiday season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Year In Remembrance Video

Last but not least, help your whole community celebrate, honor and remember their loved ones at Christmas time by putting together a beautiful Year In Remembrance video, set to a cozy winter theme.

 

 

We wish everyone a blessed Holiday Season in these trying times.

 

www.FoundandSons.com

Dealing With Grief During The Holidays

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The holiday season is filled with cheerful activities, traditions and social gatherings. And yet, for those who grieve, the Holidays can bring a sense of sadness.

Grief, at any time, can be overwhelming, but during the Holidays, it may seem that your grief has magnified to new heights, leaving you feeling raw, vulnerable, lonely, and isolated. Physically, you may feel as if you have less life; grief can lower your resistance to sickness. You may find yourself filled with emotion or feeling a sense of numbness to it all. Traditions that have given you joy in the past may leave you feeling hollow now.

This holiday season, take things at your own speed. Instead of pressuring yourself to soldier through and do all of the things you’ve done in the past, this is the time to take care of yourself. Even though you may choose to approach the Holidays differently this year, it doesn’t mean you are giving everything up forever. Next year, you may find yourself in a completely different place with your loss, having more energy for the things you choose to set aside this year. Even if not, learning to practice self-care during this holiday season can help you cope with grief year-long.

Here are some tips to consider for; Dealing With Grief During The Holidays.

Take it one day at a time, one decision at a time.

Know that you don’t have to do everything you’ve done in the past to celebrate the Holidays. Perhaps, you decide to take the year off from sending out Holiday cards, or maybe you choose to put out a few decorations instead of using all of them. Check-in with yourself to see which Holiday activities you want to keep this year, knowing that there’s always next year to do the rest.
Give yourself permission to say yes and no to invitations.

Let your energy dictate what you decide to do.

Let family know that on the day of the event you may decide it doesn’t feel right after all even if you say yes today. Give yourself room to bow out – even if it’s at the last minute.

Let others take the lead.

If you’ve always been the one to host and the party planner, ask someone else to be the point person this year. Rather than doing all the cooking, gift shopping, and preparation yourself, invite others to share the tasks and contribute.

Make room for memories.

This holiday season, ask family and friends to bring a treasured memory of your departed loved one to gatherings, making space for storytelling. Set aside a table for displaying their pictures or favorite things. Consider hanging a stocking for them and inviting family members to leave a note inside it or tell a favorite story. Remembering can help your loved one feel closer.

Take care of yourself this holiday season.

This may look different for everyone, whether you choose to rest more, surround yourself with family, take time out for quiet activities, or tap into your own inspiration. Remember the things your loved one enjoyed about the holidays and do those things if that feels comforting.

With love and patience, you can face your grief during the Holidays and perhaps find some joy too.


www.FoundandSons.com

Lessons The Seasons Changing Can Teach Us About Grief

Seasons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lessons The Seasons Changing Can Teach Us About Grief

 

#1: Death is a completely normal part of life

When you look around during winter time, you see death everywhere. Bare trees, animals buried deep in hibernation, and the white snow begins covering everything. As we have learned through the seasons things die but we know that they are reborn into new life. This cycle of life for all of us is natural and we just try to remind ourselves during the worst times, that the winter will end and spring will bring new life. 

#2: Resourcing ourselves for gloomier days ahead is natural

 When winter is approaching, animals and humans everywhere gather their harvests and store it for the dark, grimmer days to come. We know that the death of the many forms of life that nourish us is coming, and we resource ourselves for it. During darker days we learn to retreat, but the seasons teach us, this too shall pass.

#3: Grief is real, but it will always change forms

When we see the seasons change like we are about too, we see how all the shapes and forms of the cycle. Grief changes forms too. In the beginning, grief might feel like it’s impossible to move past, unable to function. And you might wish that your grief will just go away. Like a leaf falling from a tree, it will die and compost, and it will bring new life. 

#4: From our pain and loss, new life can also form

As winter ends and spring approaches, we see that in grief, life can be reborn. This cycle of life for us is natural and we learn that pain and loss can be transformed. This may be hard to think of at the worst and painful time of losing a loved one, but remember their life and let that memory change its form. 

 

For guidance in this difficult time, please reach out to Found and Sons,

 

www.FoundandSons.com

 

13 Ways To Celebrate the Life of Someone After Their Gone

Ladies Coffin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 Ways To Celebrate the Life of Someone After Their Gone

#1: Visit their favorite place. Dedicate a road trip or a day trip to it, or simply go for a walk on a trail or at a park that reminds you of them.

#2: Host an annual dinner on their birthday. Everyone can get together and share memories and laughs and tears and everything in between.

#3: Visit their final resting place. You don’t have to make it complicated, sometimes you just want to connect to that 

person.

#4: Write a letter to them. Writing letters is one of the best ways to let go of the weight of grief

#5: Frame a poem or piece of art they created. You can frame their obituary, a note they wrote to you, a poem they wrote, a quote they lived by, a clipping of something they were featured in.

#6: Share your favorite stories about them. Those we love live on through our stories. Keep sharing them.

#7: Prepare one of their favorite meals or their recipes. Cooking is another great way to move through grief when we feel stuck.

#8: Light a sky lantern in honor of them. Sky lanterns are traditionally used to connect to the spirit world, so try your hand at lighting and releasing one into the sky.

#9: Read their favorite book or watch their favorite movie. This is a great rainy or winter day activity to connect to your loved one and the life they lived.

#10: Get involved in things they cared about. Whether they were a hiking enthusiast or a pet lover, find a way to connect to what they connected to in their life.

#11: Re-watch their tribute video or slideshow. Save the tribute video or slideshow the funeral home made for them and watch it every year or whenever you miss them.

#12: Say a prayer for them. Whether you are religious or spiritual, prayers are still on the top of the list for the most direct ways to connect to and bless those who have passed.

#13: Catch a sunrise or sunset in honor of them. They say sunrise and sunset are the best times to meditate and connect spiritually. 



If you need a guide through this extremely tough time please reach out to

http://www.FoundandSons.com

6 Funeral Service Terms That Need To Change

 

 

 

 

 

 

#1: Undertaker
The only thing worse, then the outdated word “undertaker” is the image our society conjures up around that word. We prefer Funeral Directors.

#2: Clients
Who wants to be called a “client” when you just lost someone you loved? Or worse, who wants their beloved who passed to be called a client? No one. Here at Found and Sons we prefer Family.

#3: Coffin
People aren’t monsters, reminds us of undertaker. Much more appropriate terms, Casket, final resting place.

#4: Ashes
A human body may turn to ashes when it’s cremated, but it’s not just ashes. It’s the loved one. The form may change, but let’s have some common sense and sensitivity here.

#5: Corpse
There are no corpses there are the remains of a loved one, of a family member. Everyone person that comes to Found and Sons is a person and we are honored to work with their families to help them through this process.

#6: Funeral Industry
There’s a lot of sensitivity around the terms Funeral Industry. Mostly because industry refers to a more consumerist mindset, and funeral professionals really don’t like to be seen as Salesmen. Instead, they see themselves as a service provider of something important and genuine.

At Found and Sons we have always believed in a Family first culture. If we can help anyway contact us at www.FoundandSons.com

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