A year after Celine Dion's husband, René Angélil, passed away, the singer has shared a photo of her family enjoying happier times over the festive season.

Dion is pictured with her sons, René-Charles, 15, and six-year-old twins Eddy and Nelson, embracing the holidays in what was their first Christmas without Angéli, who died last January after a battle with throat cancer.

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"Holiday memories! Now time to get back to work!" Dion caption the snap, which received over 70,000 likes just 12 hours after it was posted.

While the family were able to celebrate together after a difficult year, the lead-up to the festive period wasn't easy. In an interview with the New York Post's Page Six, Dion revealed she wanted to continue the tradition of going skiing in Montana, but that it was tough to plan without her husband by her side.

"It's kind of a bittersweet moment, and at the same time we need to really make the holidays really happy," she said. "I feel thankful that he doesn't suffer and he doesn't have to worry because we got him. He got us and the spirit of the holidays will get us together again … We're going to ski again all together and he will be there with us."

After a break over Christmas, Dion is set to resume her Las Vegas residency on 17 January. While she will continue to honour her husband's legacy, the singer hopes to move on to a more positive future. "René always insisted the show must go on," she told People magazine in May last year. "You know what, I'm 48 years old and I lost the love of my life. I miss him a lot from when he was great but not when he was suffering. I cannot be selfish. You have to let people go. I feel at peace."

From: ELLE UK