Traditions

I spent the day with my Mum today, gradually putting up some Christmas decorations and decorating the tree. It feels surreal that it is Christmas time again, and daunting to face it for the first time without my Dad. The hardest part of the day came when it was time to decorate Dad's clock; the green tinsel has always been his annual tradition. As I was decorating it, the memory of last year with Dad watching me and telling me how to do it when he was so ill was so vivid. I just can't believe it is a whole year ago.