Narcissa's Journal (I) - Monday, 28 December, 1998
I do hope everyone had a lovely time for Christmas. The snow looks quite lovely outside my window though I find I miss seeing the gardens. Spring will be here before we even expect it, I would imagine.

[Private to self]
It could not be soon enough. I despise becoming so morose about the holidays, as it is not the first that so many people were missing for, that lacked the normal festivities, but it was trying. Even with the time Lucius was in Azkaban to prepare me for such a lack of holiday spirit and occurrences, his death has been far harder than simple imprisonment. Yet I still find, six months later, that the resentment I felt toward him and the guilt for feeling that resentment has not lessened very much.

I believe I will have the manor redecorated come January, as the mourning fabric grows tiresome and this manor could use the updating. Even though it was an old-fashioned custom to do such a thing to the furnishings and to wear such subdued colors these many months, it was only fitting for a man I shared twenty-one years of marriage with, even if the end was nothing to honor.
[/Private]