The wife’s aunt passed a couple days ago. The funeral home says they’re 3 months out but they can put her on ice until then.
I’ve never heard of such a thing.
I don't think it's as unusual as most of us might think. My dad passed away on Dec. 13, back in 2013. Because it was getting so close to Christmas and he was being buried in another state, we opted to do the visitation and funeral after New Years. Think about it, in some states, you'd have to wait until the thaw before they could bury you, so they must have some way of keeping a person for an extended period of time. I suspect they do a partial embalming immediately to help with preservation and preventing decomposing gases building up (you don't want Uncle Chester exploding during storage), and then put you back on ice. Closer to the service they probably finish the "dress out" and make you look pretty.
Cremate my ass, the only thing sitting on ice should be the beer they drink for my celebration of life.