Honouring Prince with a purple Christmas

By Cecilia Latorre, as told to Now or Never

Prince, for me, was everything.

My daughter, Mayte, is named after his first wife. Our cat is named Paisley, after Prince's home. My kids' lullaby is my favourite Prince song, Starfish and Coffee. And every time my stepdaughters have raspberry jam, they sing Raspberry Beret.

Prince was my lifelong passion and, when he died this year, I was devastated. So I told my kids we would be having a purple Christmas, because that was Prince's favourite colour.

At first they weren't impressed. My son said the idea was pretty cheesy. My daughter said, "Everything purple? Really?! The house is already purple enough!"

But I insisted. Because Prince was my everything.

Now we have a purple Christmas tree with purple snowflakes, purple bows and purple ribbons. We made a purple wreath and hung purple mistletoe with a little Prince symbol underneath it. We went on the hunt all over Edmonton for purple stockings and hit up a lot of Walmarts. So now we have seven purple stockings, one for every member of the family including Paisley the cat.

We even have a little nativity scene with a beautiful Prince painting that a friend of mine made for me. Prince is right in the middle. I know that's a little sacrilegious. As a Catholic, I can understand. But it's important for me.

Now my daughter says she likes purple Christmas and we should do it every year as a tradition. And we will, because Prince is in our hearts. Forever and ever and ever.