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Christmas
- mmefoundationjoy
- Dec 17, 2025
- 2 min read
December 17, 2025
Christmas is Hard...
Every day is hard, but there’s just something about the holidays—especially Christmas—that makes grief so much more challenging. It doesn’t help that Melina was my Christmas girl. She’s probably the reason I have six oversized trees in my house. In fact, one of them was purchased on her birthday, the year we lost her. It’s hideous, yet perfection. It’s rainbow—and I don’t mean the lights, I mean the branches. It’s full of ornaments that we find, or our tribe finds, that remind us of Melina.
As much Joy as that hideous tree can bring me, nobody could have ever prepared me for a Christmas morning after losing a child. That moment forever took my breath away. How do you prepare a parent to look into their family room filled with Santa’s presents and see a hole? Her spot—empty. Right where she would sit to open her gifts. I can’t move the other girls, because they also know that was Melina’s spot. I’ve tried a bunch of little techniques over the years—Melina bringing gifts, or Cheeto presents—but nothing changed the hole that’s there.
I’ve never been someone who can dwell on the bad. It’s crushing. And Melina was never empty space. In fact, in life, Melina took up as much space as her sparkle could shine. Her attire, her laugh, her jokes, her inability to sing—yet she did it at the top of her lungs. She wore bows larger than life. She dressed in as much animal print and fur as this Momma allowed. Melina was never empty space.
It hit me yesterday that Melina left me with a choice.
“Mommy, you can choose to see the empty. Or you can choose to feel the grief.”
The empty is just sadness and pain. It does nothing but hurt. And truly, that isn’t grief—to me. Grief can be gut-wrenching, consuming, and feel like you’re drowning, but it’s purposeful. It’s pain you feel because of love. It’s love with nowhere to go. So as hard as it is, if I run from it or settle for the “empty,” I’m missing all of Melina.
Melina owned that room. Melina’s love is all-consuming. And forever, Melina will be in that room—now in the form of love. I’ll take that over empty, no matter how gut wrenching or all consuming that may be. I will never choose to miss a moment of her love because I know that as soon as I come up for air, the Joy is always there.
I enjoyed reading your Christmas post because it really shared the warmth and joy of the season in a simple way that felt like being part of the celebration. When I was working on a big school project once I even used ISI Manuscript Publication Service to help clean up my writing while I focused on learning about holiday stories and traditions with my family. It reminds me that support and joy can make hard work feel lighter.
I enjoyed reading the Christmas story on your site because it brought back warm memories of lights, family meals, and the long history behind why people celebrate on December 25, which goes back to early traditions and has grown into a day of joy and giving. When I was making a holiday story for school I used Children Book Writing Services to help me shape the tale, and that first bit of support made the project feel magical. Thinking about Christmas always reminds me how stories and celebrations connect us all.
I liked reading the Christmas post and how it shared happy moments and the joy of giving during the season because it made me remember simple good times with family. One winter when I had a big school project due, I had to use professional product description writing to help me turn jumbled notes into clear sentences, and it really made the task feel easy. It reminds me that a bit of help can make hard work lighter.
I read the Christmas post and it was moving how the writer shared the deep pain and love that stays with them even during the holidays, especially after losing someone so special, and how they choose to feel the grief as part of the love. I remember last year when I had a long paper due and I really needed Law project editing service to fix small errors and make my writing clearer before submitting, and that really helped me focus on learning. It reminded me how support and care can make hard times feel a little lighter.
This piece is incredibly moving, and it’s clear how deeply Melina’s presence still fills every corner of your home and heart. I remember reading it slowly, needing pauses, because the distinction you draw between emptiness and grief really stayed with me. In moments of overload, even something unrelated like searching for Algebra class takers can feel trivial compared to real loss. Your reflection reframes grief as enduring love, and that perspective feels both heartbreaking and grounding.