We never decorate until the 18th December, one week before Christmas, but we won’t be putting up decorations at all this year. My wife’s father, probably my ‘best’ friend, died in September from lung-cancer. He and my wife’s mum have come to us for Christmas for the past 21 years and, although she will still come to us, our sense of loss is simply too great for us to give a rat’s arse about all the over-commercialised Christmas BS.

We will have Christmas lunch as usual, but that will be the full extent of our ‘celebrations’ this year.

Likewise we will not be sending Christmas cards - we will, however, make a donation to the St Barnabas Hospice charity, whose staff took such good care of Doug, and the family, during his dark, final days.