Can you believe Halloween is next week? It feels like summer just ended, and suddenly the holiday season is upon us. It came faster this year, didn’t it? And for so many of you reaching out to me lately, that quick approach brings anxiety instead of excitement. I understand completely.
This week alone, I’ve had three different people tell me they don’t know how they’ll get through Thanksgiving or Christmas without their loved ones. One woman said, “Matt, I’m already anxious about my mom’s empty chair at Thanksgiving.” Halloween isn’t even here yet, and the weight of the upcoming holidays is already heavy.
Your loved ones in Spirit are already preparing for the holidays with you. They see your anxiety, they feel your love, and they’re sending you strength. They want you to know something important: they’re not missing the holidays. They’re experiencing them through your eyes, through your heart.
So how do you turn holiday pain into celebration? Here’s what Spirit has shown me through countless readings:
Share Their Stories at Every Gathering
Make storytelling part of your holiday tradition. Before dinner, invite everyone to share their favorite memory of someone in Spirit. These stories aren’t sad; they’re bridges to Heaven. They bring our loved ones right back to the table. Share the funny ones, the touching ones, the ones that capture their essence. Spirit loves when we share these stories because it keeps their energy alive and present.
Add Their Mementos to Your Celebrations
Use grandma’s gravy boat. Wear dad’s old holiday sweater. Put their ornaments front and center on the tree. Display their photos as part of your celebration. These aren’t just objects; they’re physical connections to Heaven. When you use something they loved, you’re inviting their energy into your celebration.
Create a Memory Table
Set up a special table with photos, their favorite things, maybe something they collected. Let guests add to it. Write notes to them. Light candles. This becomes a portal of love where Heaven meets Earth. Your loved ones see this, and it brings them joy.
Honor Them Through New Traditions
Start a tradition in their honor that brings joy. Make their famous cookies, play their favorite holiday music, or do something they loved. When you do this with love in your heart, they’re right there with you, guiding your hands, sharing the moment.
Turn Their Chair Into a Place of Honor
Instead of seeing an empty chair, make it a place of celebration. Put a photo there, their favorite flower, or something that represents them. Toast to them. Include them in grace. Heaven doesn’t see empty chairs; they see opportunities for connection.
Feel Their Presence in the Moments
When you smell their perfume out of nowhere, when their favorite song plays unexpectedly, when you feel that warm sensation around you, that’s them. Heaven works overtime during the holidays to let you know they’re near.
Just last week, I had a reading where a mother in Spirit came through so clearly. She told her daughter, “I’m not missing Christmas. I’m helping you bake the cookies, I’m there when you wrap the presents, I’m in every warm memory you share about me.” The daughter broke down because she’d been smelling her mom’s perfume while baking.
That’s the secret Heaven wants you to know. Your loved ones don’t want to be the source of holiday sadness. They’re not watching from some distant place feeling left out. They’re right there with you, in every tradition, every memory, every moment of love.
The veil between Heaven and Earth gets thinner during the holidays. Not because of any mystical reason, but because love is so concentrated during this time. When families gather, when traditions continue, when memories are shared, Heaven comes closer.
If the holidays feel heavy, please remember this: Your loved ones in Spirit are not in pain. They’re not sad. They’re not missing out. They’re experiencing pure love and they’re sending that love to you. They want to see you smile when you remember them. They want their memory to bring comfort, not just tears.
Spirit has shown me time and time again that our loved ones celebrate with us. They see every decoration you put up in their honor. They hear every story you tell about them. They feel every moment you think of them with love. Heaven is not separate from our celebrations; it’s woven throughout them.
This holiday season, don’t hide their memory to avoid pain. Celebrate it. Share their stories. Display their mementos. Honor them with joy. Feel their presence in the traditions. Know that Heaven is celebrating with you, not watching from afar.
Because that’s what the holidays are really about. Love that connects Heaven and Earth, transcending everything, even death.
If you want to connect to your loved ones in spirit I hope you’ll join me for an online group reading click here to discover more
With love, light, and heavenly connection, Matt
Responses
Matt, This is very moving. Everything I’ve been worried about you answered in this post. I do cry, I miss my parents horribly. I didn’t get to grieve my dad, while taking care of my mom and helping her with her grief the best I could. They were married 64 yrs!!! Then shortly after my mom passed. I know they are not in pain and are healthy and happy to be together again. I don’t remember the last 2 holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas. They are a blur to me. I want that to pass and make memories with my grandkids that I can remember.
When my 1st granddaughter was born she was allergic to her formula, she was hospitalized because of weight loss and doctors needed to find out what was going on. My daughter called me crying because the formula the baby needed to be on was like $90 a can, and wic wouldn’t cover the elliecare formula. I called the hospital patient relations and spoke to a man. He told me he was going to the room where my daughter and granddaughter were to help her. I called my daughter and told her. My daughter called me after the man visited her. She said he smelled like peppermint (like her grandfather, he always had peppermint candy) He told her everything will be okay, the baby will get the formula she needs and to keep the faith.
I called back to patient relations to thank him. Guess what?! There was no man that worked in patient relations. When I gave the women his name, she said no hospital employee had that name. I know that was an Angel!! No other way to explain that.
Thank you again Matt!!
Thank you, I’m from Michigan and I have a bereavement Support group for those who have lost someone by suicide. These word will very comforting for those who have lost someone. Thank you💕
Matt, I can’t thank you enough for these words as I needed them more than you could know. The holidays have always been such a special time for me, filled with laughter, warmth, and love from my “Mommy,” Grandma, and Grandpa. They were the heart of every celebration, the smells from the kitchen, the stories, the hugs that made everything feel right in the world.
As the holidays approach, my heart aches deeply without them here. The empty spaces at the table still feel so large, and sometimes it’s hard to find the same joy we once had. But your words reminded me that they’re still with us, that every story we tell, every recipe we make, every ornament we hang keeps them close.
Now, as our family grows with our sweet granddaughter and wonderful son-in-law, we’re finding new ways to keep their spirit alive, passing down traditions, sharing memories, and feeling their love in the laughter of a new generation.
Thank you for reminding me that Heaven isn’t far away, it’s right here in the love that never ends.
With much gratitude for easing my heart,
Judy
Thank you, my brother.
Dear Matt,
I’d love to join one of your group readings, but as I live in Cologne, Germany, they are taking place in the middle of our nights here. Would there be any chance for future readings at a more compatible time for this part of the world? That would be just wonderful. With my best wishes and lots of love to you and your family, Anke
I so needed to read this as I have already been thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas and trying to make myself be happy during the holidays which is hard for me to do.
Lighting a candle at the dinner table for each person that has passed is our family’s way of including our loved ones
Nice message very thoughtful of you to share this with everyone. Holidays are hard, lately been remembering wonderful good happy things.
Thankyou Matt,wonderful suggestions!looking forward to seeing you in Atlantic City.since we are near the bay we light a tealight and put in biodegradable container and send lighted tealight off with hellos,we love you! the candlelight and intentions catch the eye of our loved ones!
Nice blog, Matt. Memories are nice. Honoring them is too. Nothing beats being able to hug someone, or seeing & speaking to them.
I have lost all of my elders & some friends are now gone, as well. I’m approaching the late fall of my own life, now. Christmas always seems to bring sadness to me, when it was always my favorite holiday as a younger man. My kids are far past grown now. And live far from where my wife & I live in retirement. So even that dynamic has been changed. For years now.
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