Holiday Dreams

Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years are significant holidays for many reasons. They not only have religious and cultural connotations, but also signify family connections, past and current relationships, as well as personal memories.  Dreams may incorporate any or all of these elements.  An important category of dreaming around holiday time is the “anniversary dream”.  The latter may remind the dreamer of happy as well as traumatic events that occurred in the context of a particular holiday.  Romances, friendships, separations, divorces and deaths may have taken place during one of the holidays.  Dreams often remind us of these events and the feelings surrounding them.  More importantly, a dream is often an attempt to re-work or resolve issues and emotions connected to the specific event or relationship.  We can use the dream to learn more about ourselves and the particular experience that evoked it’s occurrence.