December 25th, 2008I don’t usually celebrate Christmas
I remember when I was a kid, I talked my mum into buying a Christmas tree even if we didn’t celebrate Christmas at home. Kids love Christmas. Decorating the tree was fun and getting Christmas presents were even better. When I grew older, I no longer got excited about Christmas. We still don’t celebrate Christmas at home and I’m fine with that. My parents are Buddhists but for some reason or other, they got my siblings and I baptized at church when we were kids. In primary school, there was the First Communion and Confirmation. I went to church a few times when I was younger and went for confession also. When we were young, we didn’t really have a choice. We just listened to the parents and the teachers. Luckily, I’m the only one in the family who doesn’t get called by my Christian name which starts with a K. No one calls me like that. I send New Year cards sometimes and I write Merry Christmas and Happy New Year inside. That’s only because my friends celebrate Christmas. When someone wishes me ‘Merry Christmas’, I smile and say ‘Thank you. Merry Christmas to you too’. I don’t want to say that I don’t celebrate Christmas because I don’t want to explain the reasons why. People all over the world celebrate Christmas nowadays and many don’t even realize that Christmas is supposed to be a Christian celebration. Many non-Christians say that they celebrate Christmas but the truth is, it’s only the gift-giving part which appeals to them. They don’t do anything except give each other gifts. It can’t be helped. Christmas, just like many other celebrations is very commercialized and it’s not surprising that many people all over the world ‘celebrate’ Christmas. Even in Shanghai, I saw Christmas decorations, Christmas trees, people wearing Christmas hats and they were even playing Christmas songs in the supermarkets. During my 4 years in Shanghai, my non-Chinese friends invited me to a few Christmas parties and our faculty even organized Christmas parties for the International students. It was fun to see how people from other countries celebrate Christmas. 
Yesterday was my first Christmas eve in Singapore. Lisa, Audrey and Nicolas usually celebrate Christmas and they planned a Christmas dinner with the other Mauritians at their place. I’m staying at Lisa’s place so I ‘participated’ in the celebrations as well but I’m not sure if there will be a second time. Not doing anything on Christmas eve is fine with me. Still, it was an interesting experience. Lisa, Audrey and Nicolas worked really hard in the kitchen as well as getting the tables ready in the living room. Last year they ordered food but this year, they did everything by themselves because it was too late to order anything,esp the turkey. I didn’t go to sleep the night before and yesterday, I went to sleep at around 2p.m after helping them in the kitchen for a short while. I woke up 3 1/2 hrs later and it was time to shower and get dressed. I was so sleepy. :faint:
Some photos:
(note: weird color in some photos because of the dim light)
One of our first photos of the night. Lisa, Audrey and me. I had to force myself to smile. I was too sleepy.
The 3 of us decorated the Christmas tree. It’s a bit small but I like it.
A photo taken with the tree.
Group pic minus Hanssen who hadn’t arrived yet because he was working. Nicolas was the one behind the camera. The turkey didn’t look like what I had imagined it to be but it was delicious. 
Me and Lisa.
Girls hug.
No closeups of the meal we had this time… (Wait, did I hear a gasp? :faint: :laughing: ) because of this:
My drink of the night. A small Choya Umeshu. I bought it at the local Carrefour and I was so happy. I wasn’t expecting to find it in Singapore. I only bought a small one because I didn’t think that the others would like it. It is one of my favourite drinks from my university days in Shanghai. I’m sure that it’s not sold in Mauritius. 
It’s a Japanese plum wine.
I wasn’t going to post photos of food but I have to make an exception for the cakes. I love cakes. :love:
Mango cake. One of the guys brought this and we used it as a birthday cake for Hanssen.
Chocolate log cake.
Both cakes were yummy. 
Hanssen, the birthday boy and the other Mauritian guys.
Hanssen and the girls.
I retreated to the bedroom before midnight to chat with Desmond. I miss him. (and my little Sushi too) 
This year is going to end in a few days and I wonder what I’ll do. It will be so weird to celebrate without Desmond. The feeling that something is missing just won’t go away.
Those photos are from your facebook?
But i can’t believe there are no photos of the food :weeping: that is then the main focus!
But,i didn’t know you like choya umeshu ^_^
As a christian I’ve been celebrating christmas since I was a child. I used to go to christmas mass when I was little but not anymore. Well, I could if I want to but for some reasons, I haven’t been attending mass for so many years now
I still like the spirit of christmas though… getting together with families, celebrating and exchanging gifts.
For this christmas, we had a bbq at my place. It was fun but at some point, I really missed my dad. Although Christmas is a time of joy and happiness, I always have a special thought for him on that day.
At this time of the year, being with the one you love is important… even more than gifts and parties. Sometimes people tend to forget that, being so carried away by the christmas hustle and bustle.
I too do not celebrate Christmas but most other people do. So I don’t wish to offend them and explain that I do not. Besides around here your weird if you don’t celebrate. They like can’t believe if you told them you don’t. It is way to commercialized! UGH. Happy New Year! :cheers:
@ you not celebrating christmas:
don’t worry you r not the only one!
being Buddhist myself, I fully understand…
Didn’t know u like choya
My girl friends introduced this drink to me some time ago and I like it too. You can find it in Fairprice too.
You look stunning!
Anyhoo, wishing you a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009. (: I’m hoping to walk down Orchard Road again later this evening to admire the Christmas lights some more. Heh.
I’m glad we share the same opinion Christmas. Maybe ‘coz we come from almost the same family background. Revising on Xmas eve is not depressing, it’s friends thinking that me revising on Xmas eve = ke lian, that is depressing.
I’m curious about your Christian name. Maybe you could tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine
Hey ur xmas tree is really nice, very cute looking
waz, I still haven’t gotten rid of the comment moderation bug but somehow you are the only one whose comment didn’t go into moderation this time. :laughing:
thanks for the wishes everyone. I hope that those who celebrate Christmas had a nice time.
@
Happy New Year to you too! I’m sure that Orchard Rd looked amazing with all the Christmas lights. 
I will send you an email. I’m curious to know what your Christian name is too. 
Karl : I love the Japanese plum wine.
Carine: thanks! I’ll check Fairprice.
Angele: I agree. Indeed, being with the ones we love is more important than the gifts and parties. -HUG-
Becka: Ah.. someone who is like me! hehe . thanks. Happy New Year to you too.
Brenda: thanks.
Lin: hehe that’s true. We come from more or less the same family background.
Daks: hehe . yeah. Smaller trees are cuter and take less time to decorate.
lol…hmmm, i wonder y!?!
maybe it’ll moderate me if i type in “spam’!
spam spam spam spam
spam spam spam spam
spam spam spam spam
spam spam spam spam
spam spam spam spam
lol it did…
perhaps then, your comment moderation kicks in only if it identifies particular keywords that are associated with “you know what”
dunno much about wordpress…but, surely, u can get rid of it if u want!
Google for help! lol
or maybe i’m just outright wrong!
n your settings/code r all messed up!
waz, I have put certain words associated with spam in a list and of course, the word spam is in it. lol
I haven’t changed any settings so I’m surprised that my wordpress suddenly starts to make simple comments with no words associated with spam in them go into moderation. I’ll just wait for the next version of wordpress. Maybe this problem will be solved by then. :flowers:
SPAM!
@ waz,
Someone seems to be having fun spamming me.
hmmm…i wonder who is this someone!?!
I´m not religious so I don´t really celebrate Xmas anymore. I think it´s a fun time if you are a kid or if you have kids. Otherwise…