NEWTOWN, Conn. – One by one by one by one, each with fresh heartbreak, hearses crisscrossed two New England towns Wednesday, bearing three tiny victims of the Sandy Hook school massacre and a heroic teacher in a seemingly neverending series of funeral processions.

“The first few days, all you heard were helicopters,” said Dr. Joseph Young, an optometrist who attended one funeral and would go to several more. “Now at my office all I hear is the rumble of motorcycle escorts and funeral processions going back and forth throughout the day.”

As more victims from the slaughter of 20 children and six adults were laid to rest, long funeral processions clogged the streets of Newtown, where Christmas trees were turned into memorials and a season that should be a time of joy was marked by heart-wrenching loss.