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If you or someone you love may benefit from Hospice care, you can find out more using the information below. For support or advice at any time of the day or night, please visit our Help Hub.

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We provide Hospice care & support to patients and their loved ones living in Kent and East Sussex. Learn more about how we can help you.

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Complete one of these short forms and we will contact you. There is no need to wait for a referral from your GP or healthcare professional.

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We need to raise over £8 million every year to provide outstanding Hospice care to the local community. To get involved with our fundraising activities, design your own, or make a donation, use the information on this page.

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The importance of memories at Christmas

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It’s all too easy to take your loved ones for granted. We spend time together, speak to each other, or communicate on social media. But what does that mean? As much or as little as you interact with your loved ones, it’s always important to make sure you share memories, and that you create and capture these. Christmas is a time where most of us slow down, and spend time with those we love – at times like this, we notice the gaps that loved ones leave behind them, and take comfort talking about and remembering the past.

Father and Son embracing

Why making and capturing memories is important

Above all, it’s important to live the life you want to have lived. Do things, make things, take part in things, go and see things, and challenge ourselves constantly. Shared experiences are a great way to make memories.

It’s important that when we do things, we also capture those memories. You might end up with keepsakes and mementos from the day, or that you made with your loved ones, or you might take photographs, videos, or write about the fun you had. But take a moment to acknowledge and share them together when you do have them.

Create Lasting Memories

Ideas to make memories

Making memories is special to you, and you’ll already be making memories through the things you do and enjoy. Sometimes though, it’s hard to know where to start – you might decide that you want to make memories with friends, but don’t know what to suggest: here are just a few ideas to get you started.

Ideas to make memories
  1. Head out for the day – grab a jacket, and go somewhere new, or maybe somewhere you’ve been before. Go with close friends and family, or meet up with people you’ve not seen for a while.
  2. Sit down for a meal – whether you’re at home, enjoying home-cooking, or a takeaway, or out of the house, at a restaurant, a meal is a great opportunity to socialise with no distractions.
  3. Be creative – pick up a paintbrush, mould some clay – anything that channels your creative flair. Not everyone is creative, but it’s sometimes more fun to mess about, and create something with personality, making memories along the way. You also get a memento doing this.
  4. Anything – if someone enjoys it, do it! You might discover a new hobby/interest, or learn more about the people you’re making memories with.

And whatever you’re doing, make sure you have things you can take away – photographs, videos, keepsakes, mementos – treasured tokens to remind you of the memories you made.

Capturing and treasuring memories

Making memories is a really powerful act, giving you precious moments to look back on and treasure, but with life as busy as it can get, you sometimes don’t stop to appreciate the moment, and are left looking back on the event.

Capturing and treasuring memories
  1. Messages on the tree – at Christmas time, homes will be decorated, with trees springing up, and festive crafts decking the halls. Cut out a tag, pen your favourite memories, and hang it on the tree.
  2. Reliving memories – your fondest memory might be a post-Christmas lunch walk in a local park with the family. Visit places you remember, or spend time with the people in the memories you treasure, and talk about it, sharing your favourite parts of the memories.
  3. Make a memory box – over time, you’ll collect tokens and mementos that trigger memories, and that you may hold dear to you. Keeping them safe and together in itself can be comforting, as well as getting it out to look through on your own, or with others.
  4. Talk – talk about your favourite memories with the people you trust. Talking is so important, especially when our feelings are involved, so pick up the phone, or talk to those around you, and reflect and remember the times gone by.
Family reading a Christmas Book at Cottage Hospice, making memories, the most precious part of Christmas

Sharing memories

When making memories, you might want to share them with other people, either in the moment, or in times to come. Think about who you’d like to share with, and how you’ll be able to reflect on them together, if that will bring you comfort. You might wish to share memories with each other by looking through journals and albums, or if it works better for you, on social media, or in a shared digital album.

If you’re storing and sharing memories digitally, you might want to think about who you want to have access to them, and start planning your digital legacy.

Find out more about your digital legacy
casting made from holding hands with your loved one, cast in plaster of paris

We can help you to create lasting memories.

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