Sometimes I don't take the event which has happened (there are many significant events in my life which my therapist doesn't know about - I don't really keep her up-to-date in that way), but I will take the core themes or aspects of my process which are associated with the event. Otherwise, I think there is the risk of descriptive sessions focussing on narrative which I am not really interested in. Identifying the core stuff requires a fair amount of work outside of session and on my own, but that suits me. In your example, I might not tell her about the recent death if, in itself, it does not bring new material beyond a variation of what has been spoken about before. However, I would focus on the common thread which runs from previous losses.

Also, in contrast to what others have said, sometimes I think it is about saying the stuff which doesn't rise to the fore. Talking about the stuff which is less familiar, less frequently voiced, more frequently side-lined is fruitful.