Emma Heming Willis admits that Christmas has "changed" since her husband Bruce Willis was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia

Emma - who has daughters Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11, with the star - wrote in an essay on her website: "For me, the holidays carry memories of Bruce being at the centre of it all.

"He loved this time of year - the energy, family time, the traditions. He was the pancake-maker, the get-out-in-the-snow-with-the-kids guy, the steady presence moving through the house as the day unfolded.

"There was comfort in the routine of knowing exactly how the day would go.

"Dementia doesn't erase those memories (but) it does create space between then and now. And that space can ache."

Emma explained that "grief" has hit her at unexpected points during the Christmas celebrations.

The 47-year-old model and businesswoman penned: "(Grief) can arrive while pulling decorations out of storage, wrapping gifts... or in the middle of a room full of people, or in the quiet moment when everyone else has gone to bed.

"I find myself, harmlessly cursing Bruce's name while wrestling with the holiday lights or taking on tasks that used to be his. Not because I'm mad at him... but because I miss the way he once led the holiday charge."

Emma has now learnt how to "adapt" the family's festive celebrations to allow for the Armageddon star's illness.

She wrote: "There's a misconception that if the holidays aren't what they once were, they must be hollow. But meaning doesn't require everything to stay the same. It requires connection.

"This holiday season, our family will still unwrap gifts and sit together at breakfast. But instead of Bruce making our favourite pancakes, I will.

"We'll put on a holiday movie. There will be laughter and cuddles. And there will almost certainly be tears because we can grieve and make room for joy."

Meanwhile, Emma previously waded into the annual debate as to whether her husband's iconic 1988 action movie Die Hard should be considered a Christmas film.

She told People last month: "I think it's important to put Die Hard on because it's a Christmas movie."