The holidays have a way of holding memory, tradition, and absence at the same time — especially when grief is present.
This December, Bright Sky House asked podcast guests a simple question:
How do you get through the holidays while grieving?
Here’s what three guests shared.
Erika Mahoney
B+ with Krista Gregg guest
“In the early years after my dad was killed, the holidays took everything in me just to show up — I felt hollow and tender.
Now, nearly five years out, I’ve learned to let grief be part of the season while also making space for my dad—writing him a Christmas card, talking to him, even setting a place for him at dinner. Grief doesn’t go away, but it can soften, making room for unexpected moments of joy.
I find the magic of the holidays again in small town parades, old ornaments, and the understanding he’s still with us, just in a different way.”
Kathryn Craft
She Diaries guest
“My husband died on October 20, so the holidays were on the horizon. His Halloween birthday. Thanksgiving. Our anniversary. Christmas. New Year’s.
For me those first holidays weren’t a time of grieving, but letting the shock work its way through my body while solving a long list of problems. I had my boys to watch out for, farm animals to tend, a business to run, mace and bodily fluids to remediate, and the work of death to complete. Zombie-like, I simply put one step in front of the other: one step proof that our house of cards had collapsed, the next step proof of life and survival.
Of all the stages of grief, anger saw me through most of the following eight years. It lit a fire in me: I would not let my children down like their father had. I would show them that hope is not just something you feel, it’s something you can build a little bit more of every day.”
Anna Berry
B+ with Krista Gregg guest
“The first Christmas after losing my husband came quickly, just three months after he passed.
We adopted a tradition that I heard of from other families and began a separate special memorial Christmas tree that we still put up each year. It contains ornaments from his childhood, our life together and special ornaments that we have found since his passing that remind us of him and our life together.”
About In Their Words
In Their Words is a Bright Sky House editorial series that centers lived experience.
Each edition asks one question and shares responses exactly as they are offered — without interpretation or rewriting.
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