Looking Back at Christmas

I have had a very restless night, everything seemed to cave in on me even watching TV last night didn't help Heartbeat was about foot and mouth and the loss of a prize herd built with love. It disturbed me, for although it was only a story, it has happened for real for a good many farmers. OK I am not a farmer nor have had any connection to farming of any kind. But peoples suffering affects me and in the middle of the night I can't rationalise it.

I looked again at the prompt for the 12th and thought about Christmases past. This again made me sad as I seemed to have lost all the sparkle that Christmases had when I was a child and also when John was still alive. So my page for this day reflects where I am at the moment in time.
I took a photo on the 12th of an oak leaf, brown and covered in frost and somehow it seemed appropriated
I made the background go from the brown of the leaf to a warm and welcoming red. from despair to hope.
Have I the faith to hope for a better future.