Halloween

I didn't think it would happen but going back to work has made it difficult to update my blog. I wanted to share my experience in going through the very first holiday without Drew. It has been especially hard for different reasons than most people who lose a loved one. During the holidays you create wonderful, fun and lasting memories of the people you love. I have read and heard people talk about how hard the holidays can be after the death of a loved one because you miss those memories or family traditions. For us, it is different, because we never got to experience the holidays with Drew. That makes me terribly sad. When he was born, Alexis started to plan out our Halloween costumes. She was so excited to finally have someone to dress up with. At our church, families always dress up their children in clever ways. One year a wonderful family dressed up as Dr. Seuss characters.

 Alexis finally had decided on dressing up as a princess (of course!) and Drew was going to dress up as a frog. Some of the other options were a monkey and a banana, a farmer and a pea...you can see why she chose the princess!! This past week has been tough because every time she put on her Halloween costume it reminded me that we were missing our frog. When we were trick or treating I even saw a little baby dressed as a frog and I just about lost it. I shoved a candy bar in my mouth and kept walking.

Now that Halloween is over and I realize how incredibly tough that holiday was I am nervous for Thanksgiving and Christmas (which do not usually end with large amounts of chocolate sitting on my kitchen table). I was so excited to share with him our family traditions. I would love to hear from readers what their family does during the holidays to remember someone they lost. I want to establish a new family tradition that helps us remember Drew during the holidays!