6 December

This was an emotional prompt to do. I have hidden the journalling inside the little pockets but the tags read as follows:
THE NOT SO GOOD

By far the worst Christmas I had was in 1997. My mum had been diagnosed with cancer in November and died on Dec 18th. It was so hard to put on a brave face for my children when my heart was breaking but I knew she would not want us to not celebrate Christmas for them. She had bought her gifts for us all and to read the gift tags that she had written on them still makes me cry. She knew that she would not see another Christmas and her messages were all the more poignant for that.
She loved Christmas and made all our Christmases with her special and it was so sad to lose her at the time of year she loved so much.
I will never know where I got the strength to get through that time.
THE GOOD
It is hard to find one Christmas that stands out above the rest and so I shall think about the things that make me smile.
The time we decorated the tree, went to have dinner, heard a crash and found that the dog had pulled too hard on a decoration and brought the whole tree down on top of her
My dad dressing up as Father Christmas. Watching the children’s faces as they opened the door to him
Family traditions: R & J still sleep in the same room on Christmas Eve night even though they are now 22 and 18

I love waking to the sound of wrapping paper being ripped off presents

Eating hot chipolata sausages mid morning while the turkey is cooking

Playing silly games after lunch – not that we are competitive ;-)