Kate and Gerry McCann will never give up hope in the search for missing Madeleine, a relative said yesterday.
Kate's aunt Janet Kennedy said their family motto of leaving no stone unturned had changed to one of never giving up hope.
She was speaking as Mr and Mrs McCann, both 39, from Rothley, Leics, endured their first Christmas without their four-year-old daughter, who went missing from the family's holiday apartment in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz on May 3.
Mrs Kennedy, who lives in Rothley with her husband Brian, said: "The motto has changed. Rather than not leaving any stone unturned, it is that we never, never give up hope.
"Eight months on, we have become even more determined and resolute and it (the message) becomes that we never, never give up.
"We are still very much thinking of Madeleine and a lot of people are staying the course with us. People are showing that they are right in there with the family and that is very important.
"Kate and Gerry say that every day is a difficult day and we are just the same."
Mrs Kennedy helped collect about 1,000 toys left for Madeleine at the village war memorial in the centre of Rothley in the months after she disappeared.
About two-thirds of those toys have now been distributed by the charity Samaritan's Purse to orphanages in Belarus.
The presents have been sent to orphans in Minsk and the town of Zhodino, where 86 children live in cramped conditions.
