Memorial Christmas Gifts

What to give someone who has lost somebody

The instinct at Christmas is to avoid the subject in case it upsets them. In practice, most bereaved people find the silence harder than the mention — the fear is not that someone will bring them up, it is that everyone will stop. A framed photograph is a way of saying you remember them without requiring anybody to have a conversation about it.

Three forms that work

• A photograph of them, framed properly, printed from the best file the family has.
• A caption print: the photograph with a line they used to say, or their name and years, set beneath it.
• A star map of a date — a birthday, a wedding, the last good day — drawn as the sky looked from that place.

Choosing the photograph

Take the one where they look like themselves rather than the one where they look their best. Families almost always reach first for a formal portrait and later wish they had chosen the kitchen photograph where the person is laughing at something off-camera. If there is a choice, ask whoever knew them best rather than deciding alone.

Framing it gently

Plain finishes suit this better than decorative ones — black, oak, white or ash, with a wide mat. The mat matters more here than anywhere else: it puts space around the photograph, which stops a memorial print reading like a shrine and lets it sit on an ordinary wall among ordinary things.

Ordering

Everything is printed and framed to order. If it is intended for Christmas Day, order by early December — the banner at the top of this page shows the live last-order date for your country, including postal holidays.

For frame finishes and sizes, see Christmas picture frames .