Understanding Funeral Home Procedures

Losing a loved one during the holiday season is extra challenging because of the family traditions in which one member will now be missing. Instead of separating Christmas celebrations and memorial services, you can combine the two for a loving tribute to your loved one. Music is an integral part of Christmas, and there are four different ways you can infuse holiday music into a special memorial service. 

Christmas Music through the Years

New holiday music is released every year, and all of those hit songs can be used to celebrate the journey of life with your loved one. Many memorial services include photo albums and galleries of images that showcase a person's life. Those images can be complemented by key holiday songs.

For example, if there are pictures of the person as a child, you could play a selection of Christmas songs that they loved to sing when they were little. A small typed-out message can explain the meaning of each song as it relates to a time in the person's life. Small MP3 speaker docks are the best ways to display and play the music. It's easy to hear the songs this way, and the speakers can be set up in a number of different locations depending on the layout of the funeral home.

Holiday Song Dedications

Friends and family that visit during a memorial service will typically sign a guest book. You can take things further by having guests request and dedicate special holiday songs to play during the service. An assigned person can read these dedications out loud or each person can read them on their own while the music is set to play. This is a great way to share holiday memories and look back fondly as Christmas approaches.

Live Holiday Instrumental Music

As people gather around to celebrate the life of a loved one, the event can be made more special with the inclusion of a live instrument player. A whole band is not needed for this; you can simply hire one person to play through a variety of Christmas songs.

Choose from instruments like a piano or violin when making your selection. These instruments have a powerful touch, and a wide variety of Christmas songs can be played on them. Free Christmas sheet music can be found online so the musician can be fully prepared to play the songs that you want for the memorial service.

Group Christmas Caroling

A memorial service is often about bringing groups of people together. This can be taken even further with Christmas caroling during the memorial service. By selecting meaningful songs, the group at your memorial service can sing together and celebrate the life of a loved one. Print out copies to hand to guests as they arrive at the memorial service. This will help out anyone who chooses to sing but may not be familiar with all of the song options.

Work with family and friends to acquire as much holiday music as possible. Take your time doing song research because there are often different versions of popular Christmas songs. You want to choose a version that fits well with your memorial service. Contact a representative from an establishment like Beeman-Patchak Funeral Home for further advice.