Losing a Loved One - How to Handle Christmas Following The Death of a Child

Christmas is one of the biggest events of the year. There is so much tradition, preparation and coming together of families that it becomes a really important event in the family calendar. Christmas is planned for weeks and sometimes months in advance and when there are children around, then the focus on creating a beautiful Christmas for them is huge: bringing in the tree, decorating the tree and the living room (or the whole house!), writing letters to Santa, Christmas gift lists, Christmas shopping, menu planning, food buying, making crackers, baking and decorating the cake, steaming Christmas puddings, baking special cookies to hang on the tree... the list is endless. So what happens to Christmas following the loss of child? How does the family cope?