Christmas!!!

Listening to ... White Christmas

And, in continuing with our yearly tradition and ritual, this year was no different - we went to a friend's house for a bbq cum gathering, met up, exchanged stories, had fun, and exchanged gifts nicely wrapped (with a capped budget of course). Its a fun thing. And, with this group photo, thus endeth Christmas 2006!

Thats me in the white shirt in the front row on the extreme right.

Happily exchanging/haggling/trading presents.

Y' know...Christmas always brings back lots of magical memories...having gone to a British school my whole life, where the teachers and traditions were predominantly Christians, this season of cheer was always respected and highly prioritized. One of my earliest and strongest memories of Christmas was dressing up for the school play in Primary Two...and I had to go to Parkson's to find a bell. Ahh...school held many nice memories of Christmas...of fat jolly Santas, snow capped chimneys, everywhere white as snow, all the lights dim, and in the kitchen, the fireplace with real logs crackling inside, the lights dim, the Christmas tree in ther corner, with cotton on it, and the lights twinkling silently, and presents underneath.

Ah..Santa delivering presents when we are asleep. This is when we sneak up and remain awake to try and catch a glimpse of Santa squeezing down the chimney and stuffing gifts into our socks..


Before he hurries off on his reindeer to deliver presents to other children..


And we'd used to write to him...


There! The stocking with presents!

Santa himself! The prototypical jolly, round, rosy cheeked St Nicholas!

What is Christmas without the requisite Chistmas tree? [courtesy of JB's house heh]

One of my fav kid's books is Raymond Briggs' The Snowman. Encapsulates some aspects of the magic in the air...but I guess us being in a tropical country, everything snow is but a figment of our imagination.

Unfortunately...Christmas for me has also always been associated with something that carried an air of tragedy around it, but yet I have til this day, never fully grasped. For it was on Dec 30th 20 years ago that my Dad passed away, and I remember many hospital visits, emergency incidents, and walking in/around/out of the hospital, and seeing small Christmas trees in every corner, twinkling silently, with cotton on the branches and wrapped boxes underneath. That image, is forever, for me, inextricably linked with Christmas. I was just 4 back then, but I can never forget that feeling of beautiful, magical Christmas decorations mixed with impending tragedy as my hand was clutched by some adult as we hurried towards the emergency for me to say goodbye to my dying father.