It happens that I was unaware of the Dec. 14 event by Bereaved Familes of Ontario for Hamilton-saw it in the community newspaper wrap that night. http://bfoscr.ca/events.html
The folk choir that sung most of the memorial service (Dec. 12 funeral home event) with two acoustic guitars was simply awesome. There were two songs I don't know and I found one song via Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvpjxfWrjzY&nohtml5=1 On Eagle's Wings
I was in tears some of the time. Kind of interesting. There was a medley of Christmas carols which I noticed some of us sang along to. Refreshments and sharing afterwards occurred in another room. I was surprised by the bags everyone got-branded water bottle, tissues, pen, wall calendar, tiny shoe polish sponge applicator (round disk), mints, program plus a white taper candle with glass holder (holders were collected after the service) and a tribute tag everyone used to write the names of persons they were remembering that night -the tags were placed on the lovely green & gold Christmas tree. Candles were lit for a few minutes and there were some poems and a short talk. All in all, the event was a time to feel.
I intend to go to next year's event.
Thanks for sharing events and personal stories, everyone! Grief is a personal journey for everyone.