McCluskie-Miller Funeral Services, Inc.

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McCluskie-Miller Funeral Services, Inc.

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12/25/2025

12/24/2025

The holiday season can be challenging when you’re grieving. Here are key ways to honor your feelings and care for yourself:

1. Acknowledge Your Feelings
Allow yourself to feel all emotions: sadness, anger, joy. Journaling or talking to someone you trust can help process them.

2. Set Boundaries
Be honest about what you can handle. Politely decline events or leave early if needed.

3. Create Space for Grief
Honor your loved one through meaningful rituals, like lighting a candle or sharing stories.

4. Prioritize Rest
Grief is exhausting. Get enough sleep, take walks, or enjoy small, calming activities.

5. Simplify Traditions
Modify holiday expectations; opt for smaller gatherings, simple meals, or fewer decorations.

6. Lean on Support
Attending a church service can offer space to connect spiritually and find a sense of calm amongst believers. Connect with family, friends, or a support group. Even quiet company can help.

7. Practice Self-Care
Small acts like peaceful prayer, listening to music, taking a bath, or journaling about your loved one can nurture you.

8. Seek Help if Needed
If grief feels overwhelming, a grief coach or counselor can offer tools to cope.

9. Embrace Joy Without Guilt
Happiness doesn’t diminish your grief. Moments of joy are a sign of resilience.

10. Take Things at Your Own Pace
Adjust or create new traditions that feel right for you.

Grieving during the holidays is about balancing your loss with self-care. Prioritize your healing and take things one moment at a time.

12/23/2025

https://www.mccluskiemillerfh.com/obituary/Angela-Murphy

Celebrate the life of Angela Murphy and join others in sharing memories, stories, and condolences.

12/23/2025

The holidays can be a challenging time for those grieving. Look to this book recommendation to offer you support 🤍

12/09/2025

How long should I mourn?

It is the question people ask when what they really want is permission. Permission to still ache. Permission to still remember. Permission to not be “better” by now.

This holiday season can intensify grief, by reminding you of what could’ve, should’ve, and would’ve been.
The world feels sparkly, while your heart feels tender. Both realities can exist at the same time.

But grief is not an assignment with a due date. It does not run on the world’s calendar. It does not apologize for staying longer than expected.

Grief is a long conversation with love, and love does not operate on a clock.

Some people carry grief like a stone in their pocket. Others carry it like a second heartbeat. For some, it becomes a season. For others, a shift in the atmosphere of their life. None of these are wrong. None of these mean you’re stuck.

And here is the truth I share often with clients: We don’t get rid of grief. We learn to grow around it.
Like a tree that wraps itself around an old fence post.
Like a vine that learns the shape of what it clings to.
Like a life that expands, even around the empty spaces.

If you want a more helpful question, try:
How do I honor what I lost while still choosing to live?
Because mourning does not demand that you stay in one place.
It invites you to carry love forward in a new form.

There is no stopwatch for mourning.
There is only the sacred work of continuing.
And you get to decide the pace.

If you feel the ache today, you’re not behind.
You’re simply human. And you are allowed to take your time.

If you’re still struggling and would like to talk to someone, I would be honored to walk the grief journey with you. Call me at 618 342 8500.