The lights go up. Everyone is counting down. And you are counting too: not the days to Christmas, the days since.
Christmas is built around the very thing you have lost: togetherness, tradition, the same chair at the same table. This free guide is for anyone facing winter with someone, or something, missing. It holds any loss: a death, but also a marriage, a pregnancy, your health, a family that no longer gathers, or the person you used to be.
Inside the guide
- Why does Christmas hurt so much? And why the build-up is often harder than the day
- Why your body feels it too, and how to look after it through winter
- Am I grieving “right”? An honest word on the stages of grief, and some permissions
- A gentle plan for the day itself: making a space for them, and an exit plan
- New Year and the long January after, when the support quietly falls away, with a small daily practice for the grey weeks
- For friends and family: what to say, and why to remember January
- My winter plan and a page to write to the person you are missing
Format: 11-page PDF you can type into or print.
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By Dr Chloe Paidoussis-Mitchell, Chartered Counselling Psychologist (DCPsych, CPsychol, AFBPsS), founder of The Grief Clinic London and author of The Loss Prescription (HarperCollins). This guide is an educational resource and is not a substitute for individual psychological care. If you are in crisis, call Samaritans free on 116 123, or 999 in an emergency.