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How to Remember Loved Ones at the Holidays

November 16, 2022 By Lindsay Leave a Comment

Long time readers know that I lost my father near Christmas 10 years ago. Since that time, I’ve gotten better at dealing with the loss (and unfortunately, other losses as well). I also have several tips to remember loved ones at the holidays, in case anyone is looking for ideas to help this holiday season.

Seeing as how this will be my tenth holiday season without my dad, I’ve encountered several ideas to remember loved ones at the holidays from a variety of sources. However, allow me to stress this piece of advice for anyone reading this: do what feels right for you. If these ideas make it harder, then don’t do them! Over time, you can find what works for you and your family.

Remember Loved Ones at the Holidays

Make Family Recipes – Back in 2019, my father-in-law passed away and we started hosting the holidays. Now, my husband and I tend to mix family traditions by making recipes from both sides of the family! We’ll have his family’s fruit cake at Christmas and his family’s cheesepie at Thanksgiving! I make my grandma’s zucchini bread at Christmas and casseroles either at Thanksgiving and/or Christmas! Regardless, eating some of those foods help make the holidays seem jolly while giving a nod to those we miss.
Hang a special decoration/ornament – I have several pieces of Christmas decor that either my grandma gave me before she died or just reminds me of her. It feels extra special to put those pieces out and it makes me feel closer to her!
Light a candle – My extended family lights a candle for every person who has passed when they have a family reunion. Then, they have a moment of silence to remember them by after a lighting ceremony. It’s very touching.
Start new family traditions – Sometimes, doing the same old things is comforting. Other times, it’s just too painful. Rather than driving to the Bristol Motor Speedway in Lights (like we used to do when I was young), my mom and I typically take the time to look at lights whenever we visit theme parks at Christmas. My mom and I also started the tradition of taking a trip around the time of the anniversary of my father’s death. It gives us something to look forward each year.

These are just some of the ways I remember loved ones at the holidays. What do you do?

Starting Over with the Blog

July 21, 2022 By Lindsay 2 Comments

After almost four years of complete silence, you may be surprised to find new content on Laughing Lindsay. In fact, I am a little surprised too. However, I decided that I am starting over with the blog and taking it in a new direction.

In The Beginning

Way back in the summer of 2009, I published my first blog post. It’s a very short post that essentially states that I’m starting a blog to review and giveaway items. Prior to starting the blog, I was an avid review blog reader and had entered many giveaways. However, I was a tiny bit annoyed that I didn’t see anyone my age in the category and figured that I could fill that gap.

For years, I built the brand by delivering new content almost daily. I featured hundreds of different items over the course of several years and was proud of the work. The blog also helped me acquire necessary items during and immediately following college. Then, it became my outlet when I lost my father and allowed me to grieve by sharing about him and reading comforting comments from readers.

Burnt Out

However, I became burnt out by feeling like I always needed to be working on new content. Often times, it didn’t feel like all of the work (taking pictures, writing posts, advertising giveaways, notifying winners, etc.) was worth the small item I received in exchange. In short, my heart wasn’t in it anymore and I couldn’t/didn’t make time for it. So, I quit blogging. However, I kept paying the bills to maintain it in case I ever wanted to come back.

Starting Over with Laughing Lindsay

That brings me to now. I am once again noticing a hole in the market. I have come to realize that lots of people write about Disney Parks. While I love and really enjoy visiting those parks, I would argue that it’s an over-saturated market. However, there is far less content to consume about other theme parks and destinations. So, once again I’m going to attempt to fill the gap I see in content by starting over with this site and making the content myself.

I don’t have a set schedule in mind yet but I have a whole page of blog post ideas ready. It’s mostly travel content with a few personal posts (such as this one) sprinkled in thus far. I realize that most of my old readers joined for product reviews and giveaways. However, I hope you will stick around and continue reading as I think I might be able to provide some value to your life. I’m not 100% set against covering products (particularly travel related ones), but just know that this isn’t going to be a pure review/giveaway site anymore.

So, did I miss anything over the past four years? 😉

Letter to My Father on the Anniversary of His Death

December 2, 2015 By Lindsay 2 Comments

Today, I interrupt your routine to share a letter to my father on the anniversary of his death. As you may recall, my dad passed away in December of 2012. Today marks three years since he’s been gone and I can’t believe so much has happened. I miss him so much right now. So, I just thought I’d write him a letter to remember him and in the process I can catch you (my readers) up.

Letter to My Father on the Anniversary of His Death

Dear Daddy,

I miss you oodles. There’s not a day goes by that I don’t think about you at some point. I still want to pick up the phone to tell you about my crazy day. I want to tell you about my kids at school. Boy, they do and say some funny stuff. I think you would appreciate the sense of humor I’ve developed to deal with the adults I work with as well. I know that you would just shake your head at me and mom though. We’re still a humorous bunch.

The reason that this year is different from last year though is the fact that I’m engaged. Some days, just the thought of walking down the aisle without you makes me cry. However, I know that you would be happy for me. I also know that you would be proud to know that I value myself as a complete human being enough to just walk myself because I believe that I’m no one’s property to be given away or received. I think that you would be happy that I’ve found the dress that makes me feel beautiful. I know that you would be happy to learn that you were right about that guy. He is in fact “sticking around”. Haha!

Dad, I try everyday to be the type of person that would make you happy to say that I’m your daughter. I think that for the most part I’m doing fine. I try to help mom whenever I can. I also try to keep myself sane and happy. I have so much to thank you for and I’m so glad that I had you here for 23 years.

I miss you, but I know that you are no longer in pain and that makes it’s easier. I really wish you were here though to do a father-daughter dance with me. I know that we would do something awesome. I also wish you could tell me which songs to play since you loved music so much.

I’m still taking it one day at a time and I know that you would want me to be happy. So, I keep trying.

I love you and miss you!

Anniversary of Father’s Passing: 2 Years Later

December 2, 2014 By Lindsay Leave a Comment

I debated if I should even post something today, but I decided that I couldn’t let the anniversary of father’s passing go by without acknowledging it on here.

Anniversary of Father’s Passing

Two years ago today, my dad passed away. This was after he spent a few weeks in the hospital (including the Thanksgiving holiday). While it shouldn’t have been a surprise, I was still shocked when it happened. You see, dad had been in bad health for several years. In fact, he’d been in the hospital lots of times. However, he had always come back home and been ok (more or less). So, I guess I had come to the assumption that he would be ok that time. When he wasn’t, it was a true gut punch.

When dad passed away, someone told me that the first year without him would be the hardest. I must say that I agree, to some extent. Everyday was a new challenge without him… The first Christmas, birthday, etc. Having never experienced that before, every single holiday (which should have been joyous) was filled with dread and deep sadness.

Now that I’ve had a couple of those without him, I can’t say that they are any better. I can say though, that I don’t dread them as much simply because I’ve endured it previously and I know this is how it’s going to be. The anniversary of father’s passing has been relatively calm. I spent the day with my mom and we did some Christmas shopping. It seems like we do much better when we stay busy and go out. I don’t know that we’ll do it every year, but I certainly think it helped this year.

I still miss daddy beyond words. In fact, sometimes the pain hits me so hard and abruptly that I can’t process it. However, I take things one day at a time and just keep in mind that he would want me to be happy. So, I try to move on with my life while remembering the good times.

What I Learned from My Father’s Death

July 24, 2014 By Lindsay 4 Comments

I’m writing this from California because I’ve found myself having to explain my recent excursions to people I’m meeting (which I don’t mind doing) and so I thought I might share what I learned from my father’s death with my readers. I thought that it might explain some of the changes around here.

What I Learned from My Father’s Death

I’ve blogged about the loss of my father many times on here, beginning with that very hard to write my dad passed away post in December of 2012. All I can really remember from that time period is how sad and lonely I felt. Losing my father has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to deal with. His death still hits me at random moments and makes me want to start crying again. However, now that I’m a year and half out from it, I’m seeing that I did learn a few things from my father’s passing.

What I Learned from My Father’s Death

Treasure time with loved ones. My mom and I haven’t always gotten along. In fact, my dad was concerned about us getting along after his passing. However, losing my father has managed to bring us new found peace. We realize that we need each other to survive now and we don’t waste time arguing like we did before. If one of us gets upset, we quickly find a way to get over it and move on. Life is too short to spend time being upset with a person you love.
See and experience all that you can. My dad was legally blind and had other health issues that prevented him from traveling later in life. However, he didn’t travel very far as a young man either. I don’t know that he meant to teach me this lesson or not, but I feel strongly about traveling now. We don’t know what the future holds for any of us. So, I’m not going to waste my good health by sitting at home. I’d rather see all that I can, especially if I have any chance of going blind or not living past my fifties.
People, not possessions matter. Trust me, I love stuff. Haha! However, I now see that our stuff just accumulates for our brief enjoyment and then it’s left behind for our loved ones to clean out as they see fit. However, the connections we make and impact we make on others sticks around. I remember all types of stories about my dad and no one can take those away from me.
Life is short, be happy. This one can be applied to many aspects of life. For instance, enjoy that dessert or don’t take everything so personally.
Do what you love. This one can explain the decrease in the frequency of my posts. Yes, it has hit my stats hard (real hard). However, I now try to spend my time doing things I truly enjoy and if that means not posting but a few times a week, then fine. If that means I write only 2 posts a week and both are personal posts, then that is fine as well. This isn’t to say that I don’t like blogging. One doesn’t do it for 5+ years and not get something from it. It just means that if you don’t see me around for a few (several) days, then I’m out living life instead of writing about it.

Like I said, I’m only just now realizing what I learned from my father’s death and his life. So, don’t be surprised if you read more posts like this in the future.