It's my favourite season of the year again. How fast time has passed, really. 2004 seemed like not too far away. I remember Christmas 2004 was spent with the my dad's extended family. It was damn rahrah, but I still like the small gatherings kinda thing. Christmas has always been my favourite season of the year, even in comparison to the Lunar New Year and the what-nots. Every year, it'll be a double celebration because my dad's birthday falls on Christmas Day itself!

This following is an excerpt of the conversation I had with Nadiah on the phone yesterday evening.

Nadiah: Are you going to Maria's tomorrow?
Me: No, I can't make it on Christmas. It's my dad's birthday tomorrow.
Nadiah: You mean, on Christmas day?
Me: Ya! He's a Christmas baby.
Nadiah: So, does that make him Jesus Christ?
Me: ...

Okay lah, I know Nadiah was just playing it dumb. She's a very intelligent girl, actually. And to prove I love her so so much, here's a picture of us.


Naddy, I know this isn't exactly the prettiest picture of us, but nevertheless, I LOVE YOU STILL. :D

For the past eighteen years, I've always spent Christmas with my family. So, my apologies to those who've asked me out for Christmas lunches, dinners, BBQs or drinking sessions.

I'm really looking forward to the Christmas dinner tonight, though it's sad Doreen and Elaine won't be around this Christmas. Doreen's busy with work. Elaine went on a short trip to Rome, but she's back in Dundee. That lucky girl! She'll probably get to spend a white Christmas in Dundee. It's Christmas eve night over there now, and she said it's not snowing yet. Oh well, so much for a white Christmas.

Christmas is going to be slightly different this year, cos Lik's invited for the Christmas dinner this year. But I'm REALLY glad he's joining us for dinner tonight. For once, it's my boyfriend, not my sister's boyfriend joining us for the Christmas dinner. Heh! And he'll be staying over tonight too, so we can talk and watch old movies late into the night. Bliss. Pure bliss.

Mum's getting really busy in the kitchen preparing for tonight's dinner already when we haven't even had our lunch. Haha! The turkey's already roasting in the oven (the lovely stuffing included, and, oh, I'm not a big fan of stuffing actually).


The picture isn't too clear cos it's in the oven now and only like a quarter-baked, but I'll take one when it comes out of the oven later.

The double-chocolate cheesecake for my Dad's birthday is already baked (though Mummy's kinda sad cos it's a wee bit not-so-nice-looking, but I think it'll taste tamade damn good :D). We'll have baked potatoes and whipped potatoes tonight and red or white wine. And, not forgetting the fruit cake too. And then, we'll have Jim Beam and Coke (bourbon coke. Ming, I know you like bourbon coke! :D) later in the night. Ah, what a grand affair, and I feel so greedy. By the way, it takes aproximately 4 to 5 hours to roast one turkey and it needs to be cooled down a couple of hours before carving time.

The Christmas tree is up too! Lik and I fixed it a few weeks ago. Last year Dad and I fixed it instead, but since he was in Jakarta this year, it was mine and Lik's job to do it! I had a different kinda feeling decorating the tree with Lik. :)

Darling, I hope we'll have many many many more years to come of fixing Christmas trees up together. I love you so very much!


Ya ya, I know it looks like the last year one, cos it's exactly the same decorations and all. It's beautiful, homely, and cosy nevertheless.

Ahh, I'm listening to Diana Krall's version of Jingle Bells on the CD player now. Makes me feel all Christmasy and warm inside. I love listening to Christmas songs, but what I love most is the traditional Christmas carols.

We just gave Dad his Birthday&Christmas present rolled in one today morning. My mum, I and my sisters (the present's financed by my mum, cos we're all quite broke) got him a light blue Lacoste polo-tee. It's a new colour for him, cos he usually wears beige, black, dark blue or maroon only. By the way, my dad's really small-sized, he's wearing a size 2 from Lacoste (that's the smallest size available there). When Lik and I went together to get the shirt, the salesperson at Lacoste looked damn shocked when I told her I was buying a size 2 for my Dad. Okay, you evil people must be wondering why my small-sized dad has a hujongous (WTF, vert hard to spell) elephant like me for his daughter. -_- Bleah! Anyway, I think my dad looks really good in his new polo tee!

Daphne made dad a card (on behalf of all of us!). If you know me, I can't do art for heaven's sake. Anyways, she spent about 4 hours drawing and painting all the minute details. It's really beautiful I say. I guess the artsy blood just doesn't run through my veins.


Did I just prove my point?

Christmas Eve was spent doing last minute preparations like decoration and stuff. I also completed half of my Feature 1. I know I'm a spoiler lah. Cos I want to get it outta my way. Tomorrow, I'll be spending a day in town with my parents and Daphne. And Dad'll be going back to Jakarta on the 28th already, so there's not much time to waste.

Lik and I wanted to catch KingKong at 9.15pm last night (in some cinema in JB. Cos both of us are back home in JB anyways), however, it was full house lah. Guess it was because of Christmas Eve. And we were planning to watch it at some neighbourhood cinema in JB. Okay lah, maybe it's our fault, we thought we could get tickets so we went to buy tickets like 15 minutes before the show only. ROAR! So, since we didn't get to watch the show, we decided to indulge in our favourite activity- driving around JB in search of good food.

So, we went to this area near the heart of JB, where JB youngsters frequent. It's very prominent for it's nightlife and back in those days, for it's notorious gangsters. I don't really know that area that well, cos my parents prefer to spend their nights lazing at home and watching the tv, hence I seldom go out in JB too. But, in the midst of this "messy" place, there's this little cosy cafe. It looks quite sleazy from the outside. If you've been to JB's Jalan Wong Ah Fook, you'll know what I mean. It's like you must climb up the stairs to come to this cafe, and from downstairs, you'll probably think it's some whore house upstairs.

We had Escargots (snails) in melted butter, garlic, cheese and parsley I think, and some kind of green-colour-chicken-with-basil-pasta. He had a Martini and I had a Yam Milk Tea which came in a humongous glass. But it's damn milky, damn powderful lah. I suka. This place is supposedly famous for their milk tea, and Lik told me they had nice baked rice. And because it was Christmas Eve last night, they removed the usual menu and replaced it which Escargots, pasta and what-nots.

The Escargots were really nice, but it looked gross, cos the snails inside were kinda black. Haha!



And after that, we headed to a mamak stall near my place for teh tarik, horlicks ice and roti kosong... I know, you're gonna tell me what a pig I made myself last night. Haha, I know that. Seriously, the roti kosong anywhere in Malaysia beats Singapore's hands down! And the grand total cost for the drinks and roti kosong was only like RM3.40 (S$1.60).

Ming and Juan, when you all come to JB next week, please come with an empty stomach, cos there's really lots of nice food around here. :)

So, that's how I spent my Christmas Eve night. At 12am, while we were chilling at the mamak stall, we saw fireworks (I thought they were banned) and ahhh, festive seasons are just so happyhappyhappy. You think we're losers spending Christmas Eve at mamak stalls right? Well, this is the first time I spent Christmas Eve night with someone else, other than my family, and I enjoyed it so so much too. :)

Alright, nearly my entire very long entry has been about food, I'm sorry if you're drooling now. A year has almost passed and it's almost on to a new beginning, so, start thinking of your New Year resolutions now. My New Year resolutions are never fulfilled, cos i forget them two weeks into the new year, or either I'm too lazy to carry them out.

To those who are partying hard (aka drinking) and driving today, do not put yourself and other people's lifes in danger. That would be really irresponsible and imbecilic of you. Please take a cab instead! (God, this sounds like some PSA.) Please take good care of yourself, girls especially, cos there are so many horny wolves around.

Lastly, to all my lovely friends, I wish you a very blessed Christmas, and may you have a fun-filled 2006 New Year. Love you all very muchos.