David Kessler guides grieving parents through the holidays after losing a child. If you have other children, keep rituals but acknowledge the one you lost. If you don't, consider stepping away from traditions entirely. You don't have to be cheerful.
How do we get through the holidays without our child? When parents have a child, one of the many things they look forward to is holidays with their children. So the idea that you have lost a child and are now faced with going through the holidays can be deeply overwhelming. If you have other children, it's important that you continue the holidays for their sake and include the loss of your child. Talk about the loss of your child and yet for your other children, go on with it. If there are no other children, you and your husband or your wife may just need to take some time without the ritual of the holiday, or just let it be, whatever it is. And if you're enormously sad, don't feel the pressure to cheer up for the holidays. No one expects you to have a happy Holidays after the loss of a child.
