When someone important has died, Christmas can be a difficult time for young people and equally challenging for parents, carers and other family members.
Winston’s Wish supports children, young people, their families and the professionals who support them after the death of a parent or sibling. We know that Christmas can be an extremely difficult time for families, so we’ve put together the following advice on how to remember someone you have lost.
- Set aside a special place for memories of the person who has died. You could light a candle or take time out to think about this person
- Make special Christmas decorations for them and place them on the tree
- Take a special Christmas card to their grave – or to where their ashes were buried or scattered
- Begin to make a memory box in which to keep things that remind you of the person – photos, shells etc.
- Ask family members to write special messages and put these in your memory box
- Listen to their favourite Christmas song
- Create a digital memory board of special photos or post a photo of them on social media
- Ask other people for their memories of the person who died and begin to compile their ‘life story’. You could include Christmas memories, for example ‘what was the best or worst Christmas present they gave you?’
- Share with each other your ideas on what present you would buy this person if only you could
- Write them a letter, a poem or a song. Maybe you could start with something like: ‘If you came back for just give minutes, I’d tell you…’
Our guide is also available as a PDF download, which you can find here. Support is available via our ASK email service or online chat.