Is it wrong to want to do something nice for the anniversary of a death?

Or even a the birth date of the person who isn't here anymore.

I always think that to keep someone alive after they have passed away, the only thing that can actually be done is recall memories and just talk about them. 

So my dad would have been 70 years old and one month if he was still alive and I wanted to do something nice for the birthday that never was but I spent the majority of that day cleaning my girlfriend's kitchen. Which is quite bleak I guess but I suppose that people don't care about this kind of stuff. 

Maybe I shouldn't either?