NCIS S07E09

Poor Ducky took me right back to the subject of last week's Bones when he said of his mother that, "She barely recognizes me when I visit." It hurts terribly when that happens. It can be particularly difficult to have lost or be losing a loved one when a holiday rolls around, because holidays are built on tradition and memories, just the things to make you miss him or her more. And so Ducky is desperate to fill up his Thanksgiving with the other people in his life, to create new traditions that might help ease the pain of old traditions fading.

This idea of actively creating new traditions to cope with the loss of old ones is new to me and somewhat overwhelming, but I hope it will prove useful and worthwhile this holiday season.