It's our annual holidays and grief episode! In the past we've focused on more tangible tips and suggestions for supporting kids, teens, and adults during this time of year. This year we decided to focus on one person's lived experience with how the holidays can get really awkward when grief is involved. Ana Salazar-Walsh was just nineteen when her father died in a mountain climbing accident. A few months later, it was the first holiday season after his death, but it was actually the third Christmas in a row shadowed by grief. Two years earlier, her father left their family to start a new one with a woman he had fallen in love with. All of this, combined with moving from Spain to the United States for college, made for three very uncomfortable and awkward holiday seasons. Now that Ana is married with her own children, she's finding ways to bring her father's memory into their holiday celebrations.

Looking for our past episodes about the holidays & grief? Check out:

• Ep. 272 It's Okay That It's Not The Same – Grief At The Holidays

• Ep. 240 The [Not] Most Wonderful Time Of The Year – Holidays & Grief Mini-Episode

• Ep. 98 Under Pressure – Grief & December Holidays