 A unique ceremony was held tonight at Ascension Health in Brainerd where families were able to memorialize loved ones lost in a special way around the holidays. Reporter Rachel Johnson has more. For a lot of people, the holidays are the best time of the year, but for some it can be the most challenging. The holidays tend to be a difficult time, especially if it's your first holiday where you've lost a loved one. That is why Ascension Health puts on their annual Tree of Life Memorial Service and Lighting Ceremony in December. The holidays are usually the time where people miss their loved ones and this is the time where people always remember them and we offer it as a way to respond to that grief and to that difficult time. During the ceremony, attendees write the names of loved ones that they have lost on Christmas bulbs to be hung on the tree. We invite people who have experienced lost of a loved one here at the hospital within the last year. We invite them to come together for a simple service to connect with others who may have experienced the loss this last year too. Ascension Health started the Tree of Life Ceremony in 1999 as a way to carry out their motto of caring for people from birth until after life. One of the missions of Ascension Health is to provide care to people from beginning to end of life and I would say beyond and this is a way for us to say that we are with you even after your loved one dies. The ceremony is an important tradition and has a huge impact on families that have lost loved ones. People have experienced a loss here and maybe a difficult place to come back to but maybe coming back here to honor their loved one and to share in a memorial service is meaningful for them. Through the Tree of Life Ceremony, those with names on the Christmas bulbs will always be remembered. Reporting from Brainerd, Rachel Johnson, Lakeland News. Anyone is welcome to hang a bulb on the Tree of Life at Ascension Health St. Joseph's Hospital. A free will donation is encouraged with proceeds going to support inpatient hospice care and grief support. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.