Is this your first Christmas without your partner?

Many years ago I lost my husband and our young son two weeks before Christmas. Christmas has been difficult since then, but now, my parents, who helped me survived that, are frail and my mother’s been ill for the last couple of years. Dementia has robbed us of her cheerful spirit, and she’s been in the hospital since before Thanksgiving. She’s stopped speaking, so I couldn’t even hear her voice when I called.