Christmas provides Newtown a break from mourning

NEWTOWN, Conn. - Christmas has helped some people in the grieving Connecticut town of Newtown cope a little better with the shooting tragedy that killed 20 schoolchildren, while others have yet to feel the holiday joy.

Smiles returned for those taking a respite from the mourning now that funerals for the victims have concluded. For the crestfallen, the holiday spirit was absent in a town that just buried its children.

A sign sits at a memorial for those killed in the Dec 14 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, on Christmas morning in Newtown, Connecticut Dec 25, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

"We're getting through this with our faith and our prayer. People are smiling a little more now," said John Barry, owner of an information technology staffing company. "The week was so horrible. Now it's time to celebrate Christmas."

This largely Christian town was shaken on the morning of Dec 14, when a 20-year-old gunman armed with a military-style assault rifle shot dead 20 children aged 6 and 7 and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. It was the second-deadliest school shooting in US history.

Little is known about the shooter, Adam Lanza, who also killed his mother before the rampage and later himself to create a death toll of 28 in a tragedy that has revitalized the debate over US gun control laws.

The sadness has moved some to act. Makeshift monuments to the dead have popped up all over town, funds have been raised, and many visitors have made a pilgrimage to Newtown, offering support.

"It doesn't feel like Christmas. It's too sad to feel like Christmas," said Joanne Brunetti of Newtown, who was staffing a 24-hour candlelight vigil in the center of town early Christmas morning. "I got my shopping done a lot later than usual. I just felt like my heart wasn't in it."

At another monument across town, Tim O'Leary of nearby Danbury, Connecticut, said reading the memorials to the victims only helped "a little."

"It (Christmas) shouldn't even be happening," O'Leary said. "Life has changed as we know it."