Each year, the holiday season presents a new opportunity to get creative with decorations and keepsakes. Here at Greenlawn Funeral Home, we encourages the families we serve to spend some of this special time to remember and find ways to honor their loved ones.
A great way to do this is to make an ornament or creative holiday keepsakes dedicated to special person or those family members and friends whom have passed away. Below we have included a few ideas on how to do so this holiday season.
Create ornaments made from items found in your loved one’s closet.
It’s common to celebrate the holidays with a Christmas tree, and making homemade ornaments is a great way to honor your loved one. If you feel comfortable or others around you would like to join, together you can incorporate items from your loved one’s closet into ornaments. For example, you might make a handcrafted ornament from an pieace of important clothing, a previous used item on their keychain, out of family pictures, from their jewelry, or something that you reminds you of them and now is something that you deeply treasure.
Create a scrapbook.
You’ve probably heard of people creating a memorial album after losing a loved one. A mini scrapbook is like this but allows for more creativity because it’s less structured. Since scrapbooks are person, it doesn’t even to have a holiday theme instead it can be create with photos you already have printed out or be themed around a singular story or trip that remind you of them. You could assemble a digital scrapbook using a free graphic design platform found online.
Make a wreath.
A wreath is a traditional holiday décor item that can brighten up any door or wall. To connect this project to your loved one, weave their favorite wintertime flower or plant into the wreath you make. You might also consider adding ribbons in their favorite color into your design.
Put a holiday journal together.
Consider creating a holiday journal if you’d like to make something you can build on and add to with each passing year. This can be a simple notebook, folder, or three-ring binder, which you can expand as new ideas come to mind. To get started, jot down heartfelt memories or funny stories of your loved one.