Celine prepares for first Christmas sans husbandLos Angeles, Dec 9 (AZINS) Singer Céline Dion is preparing for her first Christmas without her husband René Angélil, who died earlier this year.

"I cannot just live on like, ‘I lost my husband, my children have no father'," she told pagesix.com.

"I have to stand tall and strong because this is my way of living: Stand tall, be positive, pick your battles, do the best you can and to live for today, not for tomorrow, for today, and know nothing is perfect, not everything you want will happen."

Dion met music manager Angélil when she was just 12 years old. After launching her into stardom and working together for years, their relationship turned romantic in 1987. They got married in 1994.

Dion feels Angélil will be watching over this Christmas as she and their children, 15-year-old René-Charles and six-year-old twins Nelson and Eddy, go skiing in Montana, as was the family tradition until Angélil felt too ill to travel last year.

They will spend Christmas on the slopes, drinking hot chocolate and sitting together by the fire. Friends plan to join the group, but Dion says she doesn't want too many other people around.

Angélil died in January, just two days before his 74th birthday, after a long battle with throat cancer.

"I can't believe it's going to be a year that my husband passed. I don't know when Santa Claus is coming, but if I had a wish to make this year, can you just tell him to take his time? I'm not ready! It's kind of a bittersweet moment and at the same time we need to really make the holidays really happy," the 48-year-old said.