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Hospice Services > Grief Services > Coping With the Holidays Checklist

Print this page and mark activities that have been part of your tradition in the past with a "T" and check with a "W" what you want to do this year. Share this list with your family or have them complete a list of their own and then compare notes.

Christmas Cards
____ Mail as usual
____ Shorten the mailing list
____ Include a "Christmas letter"
____ Choose not to send this year

Decorations
____ Decorate as usual
____ Modify decorations
____ Ask for help
____ Let others do it
____ Have a special decoration for loved one

Shopping
____ Shop as usual
____ Give cash
____ Shop through catalogs
____ Ask for help
____ Shop early
____ Make gifts
____ Give baked goods
____ Shop with a friend
____ Ask for help wrapping gifts
____ Exchange gifts later

Christmas Music
____ Enjoy as usual
____ Avoid turning on the radio
____ Shop early before stores start playing Christmas music
____ Listen to it, have a good cry and allow yourself to feel sad

Traditions
____ Keep the old traditions
____ Attend holiday parties
____ Don't attend holiday parties
____ Bake the usual holiday foods
____ Buy the usual holiday foods
____ Modify or reduce holiday cooking and baking
____ Go to religious services
____ Do not attend religious services
____ Attend religious services but at a different time
____ Attend a totally different church
____ Spend quiet time alone
____ Visit the cemetery
____ Open gifts on Christmas Eve
____ Open gifts on Christmas Day

Christmas Dinner
____ Prepare as usual
____ Go out for dinner
____ Invite friends or family over
____ Eat alone
____ Change time of dinner
____ Change routine of dinner, such as buffet instead of sit-down
____ Change location of dinner; eat in different room
____ Ask for help

Post Christmas and New Year's Day
____ Spend as usual
____ Remove Christmas decorations early
____ Go out of town
____ Avoid New Year's parties
____ Attend a New Year's party
____ Have a New Year's party
____ Spend time with only a few friends
____ Go to a movie
____ Go to bed early
____ Write in your journal your hopes

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