A Christmas B(log)!

The Editor of the Friends of Katie Website (aka Katie's Dad) shares his latest thoughts with you.

With the cracker season now in full swing you can guarantee the latest joke will be up to the usual high standard!.

Oh well, it will soon be over!! Hope you like the newly decorated site, probably the only snow you will see this Christmas!! Anyway here is my latest effort.

Since Katie's passing in February 2008 there have been many dates, anniversaries and occasions that were painful to bear and none more so than Christmas Day. When the first suggestion of Christmas appeared in the shops around September the torment began. By the time the first advent calendar window was opened last week December 26th could not come soon enough.

I used to love Christmas morning whether I was with Katie or not. To see her face light up when she opened her presents or to hear her excited voice on the phone thanking me profusely for a present that I had clearly got wrong was magical. She would always have a pen at the ready to list who had bought her what and the "Thank You" letters would be ready that night.

We, as a family, have some great Christmas memories of Katie, some on film, many in photo albums but many, many more are simply kept in our own memories for ever. We made sure that the last two Christmases, after we knew how ill she was, were memorable and we certainly did our best - with her help of course.

Now the whole build up to Christmas is more awful than ever. The adverts, the decorations, the crowded shops only serve to highlight our loss.

Katie’s last Christmas was made bearable thanks to Little Havens' extraordinary care when Katie was quite poorly. We enjoyed a Christmas lunch there and Katie and her Mum had some respite days at the hospice too. This Christmas will be the same as any other at the hospice. The caring goes on, there will be plenty of laughs and smiles thanks to the amazing staff and the strength of the parents whose children are being cared for.

Little Havens really is an extraordinary place.

This week's joke comes courtesy of a regular visitor of ours so not being mine is therefore quite funny! What song did Cinderella sing as she waited four months for her photos? Some day my prints will come. Olden but Golden!

Don't forget all the previous blogs can now be found via the "Blogs" link.