Condolences, Ciato.
Deaths around the holidays are particularly hard.
Thanks for the well-wishing, everyone.
Things are still up in the air with my grandfather and the aftermath; we know we're going to have him cremated and do a ceremony next summer rather than now because he is going to be interred near his wife in the military cemetery in South Dakota, where the extended family all lives and grew up.
The hardest thing about dealing with my grandfather's death is that... just about everything relating to his funeral has been taken care of. There's some degree of comfort in having something to -do- when someone dies -- planning services, putting together the financing, letting people know -- and almost 90% of it has been taken care of for years. It being Christmas, there hasn't been much opportunity to deal with the lawyers and such either. It's just so... surreal.
I hope your fraternity brother pulls through it, OK.
Merry Christmas/happy holidays/<insert appropriate seasonal well-wishing here> to everyone.