People often feel happy, loved, and celebratory around the holidays. But for my family, Christmas was ruined by a terrible event. Just two days before the wedding, my sister lost her husband and son in a terrible accident. It was a heartbreaking loss.
My sister asked me to stop the big Christmas party I was planning because she was sad. I wanted to do it, but I just couldn’t. Not having the party would make our family feel even worse about the sadness and darkness that was already there. I wanted to make a place where we could all get together, support each other, and enjoy the love and memories we had together.
The party happened as planned, but the mood was, as expected, pretty low-key. But the next thing that happened would never be the same again. While everyone was talking and mixing, I heard a noise coming from my baby’s room. My sister was putting away my toddler’s clothes and toys, which used to belong to her late son. I ran in and saw her.
She was crying, and what she said hurt a lot. She told me I was a bad sister and that I didn’t deserve these valuable things. As the fight got worse, our guests started to pay attention. A lot of them probably thought I was cold and cruel when they left that night.
But the truth is that I was looking for a way to honour my sister’s death while also enjoying the love and happiness in our family. I wasn’t trying to be rude or not care about her pain. I just wanted us to be able to heal and move on.
I think I could have handled the situation better if I had shown more care and understanding. I tried to do what I thought was best for everyone at that time. I learnt a useful lesson about how important it is to be kind, understanding, and talk to people when things are hard.
