You've received good advice, you do need to think past the disagreement you were having and realize that you would have most certainly made up. The idea of writing a letter is a good one. My daughter was 13 when she died 2 1/2 years ago and she is survived by a sister 4 years older as well. My other daughter also went through some guilt of feeling like she wasn't the best big sister she could be, but has realized really how much they loved each other and that minor recent disagreements really didn't matter anymore. You won't lose memories of her......but her death is so recent you need to be kind to yourself. Lean into your grief and let yourself cry when you need to, don't rush it and don't minimize your feelings or allow anyone else to either. The holidays coming up will be hard and if you decide to do something, plan ahead but try not to be too elaborate about it and be willing to back out of your plans if you get to those days and you can't handle it. Also, you might want to try something to honor your sister during the holiday season, donate to or volunteer for her favorite cause. Something I've heard of but haven't tried is writing letters to our loved ones, reading them on Christmas Day but leaving them in something like a stocking till the following year. Then you can get them out and read them a year later and see how much you've grown during the year. Angela

We got two gifts in total. A vacuum cleaner and a pressure cooker. Both most welcome and the pc is still in use. No ’shower’ and only 8 wedding guests. Just parents, siblings and their spouses. DD got married during covid with the permitted 6 guests but a year later we had a party with 100 guests. They requested no gifts, just donations to two charities. The Italian side of the family found this diffcult to grasp and gave a lot of knickknacks they neither want nor need.

Is this the right book?

Lori - I made a 40th anniversary memory book for my parents in Nov. It took me several months to get everything together, although I did not send anything to family or friends. I just snuck in when they weren't home and gathered up many, many pictures. Wedding pictures, baby pictures ( of them and us!), pet pictures,etc. I copied them and returned them without them knowing. Between all of their pictures and all of the ones I had taken - from getting my first camera in 6th grade, to now with grandchildren pictures, family gatherings, etc. I had PLENTY of pictures and memories. Hope this helps!