Honoring Your Child Through Holiday Traditions
3 Simple Steps for Grieving Moms
We are just two days away from celebrating Thanksgiving 2025, and today may be one of the most important conversations in this series-how to honor your child through holiday traditions.
You may be feeling a whole host of emotions right now that only another grieving heart understands. There may be moments of warmth and moments where the holiday feels different than it used to. Not wrong—just different. And if you’re wondering how to honor your child in the middle of all of that, you are in the right place today.
Honoring your child doesn’t have to be heavy. You don’t have to dread it. It can be meaningful, simple, and personal—a way of saying you’re still part of us in a way that fits this season for your heart.
Today we’re going to talk about ways to bring your child’s love into the traditions you keep—not by forcing it, but by creating space for the beauty of their life to shine through.“For I am about to do something new.
See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?”
— Isaiah 43:19 (NLT)
The Story of What This Has Looked Like for Me
I am going to share three truths with you to help honor your child through holiday traditions—without pressure, without perfection, and without feeling like you have to pretend you’re okay. Just simple, meaningful ways to let love have its place.
Point number one: honoring your child begins with permission.
And I’m going to take this point in two directions. The first is giving yourself permission to say their name.
This can be one of the hardest things for us to do—say their name when we’re at a gathering where other people are there. Maybe it’s family, maybe it’s friends, maybe it’s both, and you feel restricted to say their name. Giving yourself permission to honor your child by saying their name is such freedom.
Often we feel restricted because we’re not sure how that’s going to be perceived. Maybe your family is not the type that allows you to grieve openly. Maybe your family doesn’t invite grief because it doesn’t feel good, and everybody wants to feel good during the holidays. But I want to help you change that perspective today.
One of the things I teach inside the Grief Roadmap is how to honor your child. It doesn’t feel natural after they’re not walking beside you anymore. Somehow we have this mindset that if they’re not physically here, we can’t share their life the way we used to.
Let me show you a different perspective.
Permission to Say Their Name
You are your child’s legacy. The way people will remember your child is by your example.
My son Andrew didn’t live in my home when he went to heaven. He was 32 years old, married to the love of his life, Erica with two children. When he left for college, he didn’t live in my home everyday, yet when I went to work or gatherings where he wasn’t there and people talked about their kids—I talked about my kid. When Andrew got married and lived in various places, none of which were near our home, I still talked about my son.
He lives in heaven now, and every memory I have still deserves to be honored. I’m giving you permission to do that today.
I’ve done it so much that it feels natural. I don’t hesitate for a minute.
Maybe your child still lived at home when they went to heaven, and the ache of that absence is so sharp you don’t feel permission to share their life. Can I ask you gently:
Has anyone actually said you shouldn’t talk about your child?
Or is it the fear of how it will be received?
Most of the time, friend, it’s the fear—not reality.
And when we practice sharing our children’s lives, regardless of their age, it gives us confidence.
So friend, I’m giving you permission at your gathering this week—whatever day you celebrate—to say their name.
Because the way you honor your child teaches others to honor them.
Trying Something Different This Year
The second piece of permission is this: giving yourself permission to do things differently this year.
Traditions repeat every year-that’s what traditions are all about. And people sometimes want them to continue the same way. But I’m giving you permission to do things differently. You are not required to carry the same traditions you once kept, because life for you is not the same.
You are allowed to simplify.
You are allowed to change your mind.
You are allowed to pause something that feels too tender.
God is not asking you to force old traditions into a season that feels different. He’s inviting you to notice the gentle, quiet, new things He is doing in your grief.
Sometimes honoring your child simply means saying, “This year we’re going to do things in a way my heart can handle.”
Honoring your child is less about activity and more about meaning.
Some of the most meaningful ways are the simplest—sharing a memory, preparing their favorite dish, pausing before the meal, acknowledging their place in your family. Whatever you do, do it in love.
Your love is the honor.
Letting Love Lead the Way
The third truth is this: honoring your child is making space for love—not sadness—to lead the way.
So many grieving moms tell me, “I just don’t want to be sad anymore. I just want to enjoy my life again.” Friend, that’s a process.
Its easy to get overwhelmed and feel hopeless when we don’t see a way beyond the sadness and the pain. Sometimes we need help with that, I sure did. The enormity of the rest of our life can open the door to despair if we let it.
The Grief Roadmap was created just for this purpose-to help you believe, with confidence, that life still has value, it can be good again.
If life feels like the same day that repeats over and over, I encourage you to join the waitlist. I’m praying over you because God is providing a way for you to not live inside the pain all the time—but to find a way to live with joy again.
Honoring With Love
This season will bring moments that tug at your heart, especially if it’s your first. But honoring isn’t about reliving pain—it’s about creating a small space for love to sit with you. I’ve extended the Holiday sale for The Grief Mentor Sessions, if you need help managing the weight of grief lets get a plan in place for you. A place where you can be seen and heard without the worry of meeting anyone’s expectations.
And remember:
Jesus honored those He loved. He paused. He noticed. He wept. He remembered.
“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart.
And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.
So don’t be troubled or afraid.”
— John 14:27 (NLT)
Your love didn’t end.
Your story didn’t end.
Their place in your family didn’t end.
And neither did your connection to them.
🎧 Listen to the Full Episode
Listen to Episode #233— Honoring Your Child This Thanksgiving Starts Here — 3 Simple Steps on The Grief Mentor Podcast.
Next Steps
Friend, if your heart feels especially heavy as the holidays approach, I want to help you find peace in the middle of it.
🎁 Holiday Flash Offer — Peace for the Holidays
Through November 22, book a 1:1 Grief Mentor Session and receive my new printable guide:
Peace for the Holidays — A Simple Plan for Grieving Moms.
In our time together, we’ll talk about what this season brings up for you and create a plan that helps you breathe again—one that honors your child and makes space for peace.
👉 Book your session here
If your heart is whispering that you need community, you’re not alone.
💛 Join the Waitlist for The Grief Roadmap
The next round of The Grief Roadmap opens after the first of the year, and the waitlist is now open for both new and returning moms.
When you join, you’ll be the first to know when enrollment begins—and you’ll receive early-access bonuses before the doors open.
👉 Join the waitlist here
You don’t have to face the next season alone. God is already walking with you, and I’d be honored to walk beside you too.
