When is grief most difficult?
Important dates, celebrations and anniversaries are hard to deal with. Family gatherings remind those who are grieving of who is missing. Sometimes grief is most difficult when doing routine activities that are no longer able to be shared.

How do people handle these difficult times?
People often manage the same way they do with other difficult situations.
Some ideas:

• only be as involved in the celebrations as much as they want to be
• choose ahead of time how to spend the day and let others know their plans well before the event
• only keep up the traditions that mean something to them and let others go
• create new ways to remember the person who died
• Relive past celebrations by looking at photographs or home movies
• celebrate the life of the person who died as well as grieving their loss.