It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year...
Christmas - my most favourite time of the year ! Somehow there's excitement & a buzz in the air. It's interesting to note that for a lot of people it is just a time to spend with family, exchange gifts & have a feast, helped by the fact this is also when we get our year-end bonuses.
Here in Melbourne, this is the season of parties at work & many get in to the mood by wearing Christmas-themed stuff like dangly Christmas earrings & such at work. We even had special caps with holly & bells printed on them for use in the OT !
There were also manger scenes set up ( the hospital I go to most often was started by Catholic nuns ) - which I thought was a good reminder of what the season's all about.
I feel kinda sad when the birthday boy's ignored in the midst of all the celebrations...
Christmas for me turned out to be a time shared with many new friends & fellow contrymen & neighbours ( Malaysians lah, not the ones in the next apartment).
I hosted a potluck party on Christmas eve where we actually sat down & ate almost continuosly from 7:30pm to 1 am ! We had the usual Christmas fare - turkey, chicken, ham, potatoes, as well as pudding. As usual, everyone had been worried about not having enough food on the table, so we ended up with many leftovers - all had to go home with a package of food as I was also trying to clear stuff before my trip to NZ (more about that in another post). We also watched the live telecast of the traditional Carols by Candlelight, an annual affair held at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. While chatting about the performers, we realised that we had absorbed quite a bit of Aussie culture or at least TV as we could actually identify quite a few of the TV personalities performing !
Either that or we have been watching too much tv....
Managed to get up & get to church for Christmas service on Christmas morning - had BK & Tze Gay & their kids Natalie & Ben join me for it as they were visiting from Singapore. We sang more of the contemporary Christian music rather than the traditional carols - and this included one of my favourites ( which is probably a clasic by now ) "We Are The Reason". After that I decided to invite Bernice, who was born in S'pore but raised in Melbourne, as well as Kim Poh & his family to my place for lunch. I needed help to finish my ham before I left for NZ the next day !
We managed to have a very nice lunch ( still had a quater of the ham left at the end, which the Ongs took home ) - I used up almost all of my salad greens & tomatoes, as well as cleared my stash of sausages bought from the Queen Vic market, plus my 2 mini pizzas (frozen). Also managed to get some nice cakes from the Laurent patisserie downstairs, which we had for dessert with coffee ( I got to use my french press bought at a sale at Glen Waverley !). The kids (KP has 3) had a great time watching my The Incredibles DVD with all the extras, so they didn't feel bored. I think they also enjoyed getting presents from me, as much as I enjoyed geting the tree up 7 the presents wrapped ! :-)
The evening was another eating session as I went to BK & TG's service apartment to meet them for dinner. TG cooked a nice roast beef with veggies & I brought along my salad & a Van Gogh cake from Laurent for dessert. Had a nice glass of Penfolds Shiraz with my dinner, and a lovely time catching up on news from Singapore, as well as hearing about their experiences when they were in Melbourne about 5 to 6 years ago for BK's fellowship.
Got back at about 12 midnite & had to frantically pack for the NZ trip - finally went to bed at about 3am, feeling very happy & contented about my first Christmas downunder.
Here in Melbourne, this is the season of parties at work & many get in to the mood by wearing Christmas-themed stuff like dangly Christmas earrings & such at work. We even had special caps with holly & bells printed on them for use in the OT !
There were also manger scenes set up ( the hospital I go to most often was started by Catholic nuns ) - which I thought was a good reminder of what the season's all about.
I feel kinda sad when the birthday boy's ignored in the midst of all the celebrations...
Christmas for me turned out to be a time shared with many new friends & fellow contrymen & neighbours ( Malaysians lah, not the ones in the next apartment).
I hosted a potluck party on Christmas eve where we actually sat down & ate almost continuosly from 7:30pm to 1 am ! We had the usual Christmas fare - turkey, chicken, ham, potatoes, as well as pudding. As usual, everyone had been worried about not having enough food on the table, so we ended up with many leftovers - all had to go home with a package of food as I was also trying to clear stuff before my trip to NZ (more about that in another post). We also watched the live telecast of the traditional Carols by Candlelight, an annual affair held at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. While chatting about the performers, we realised that we had absorbed quite a bit of Aussie culture or at least TV as we could actually identify quite a few of the TV personalities performing !
Either that or we have been watching too much tv....
Managed to get up & get to church for Christmas service on Christmas morning - had BK & Tze Gay & their kids Natalie & Ben join me for it as they were visiting from Singapore. We sang more of the contemporary Christian music rather than the traditional carols - and this included one of my favourites ( which is probably a clasic by now ) "We Are The Reason". After that I decided to invite Bernice, who was born in S'pore but raised in Melbourne, as well as Kim Poh & his family to my place for lunch. I needed help to finish my ham before I left for NZ the next day !
We managed to have a very nice lunch ( still had a quater of the ham left at the end, which the Ongs took home ) - I used up almost all of my salad greens & tomatoes, as well as cleared my stash of sausages bought from the Queen Vic market, plus my 2 mini pizzas (frozen). Also managed to get some nice cakes from the Laurent patisserie downstairs, which we had for dessert with coffee ( I got to use my french press bought at a sale at Glen Waverley !). The kids (KP has 3) had a great time watching my The Incredibles DVD with all the extras, so they didn't feel bored. I think they also enjoyed getting presents from me, as much as I enjoyed geting the tree up 7 the presents wrapped ! :-)
The evening was another eating session as I went to BK & TG's service apartment to meet them for dinner. TG cooked a nice roast beef with veggies & I brought along my salad & a Van Gogh cake from Laurent for dessert. Had a nice glass of Penfolds Shiraz with my dinner, and a lovely time catching up on news from Singapore, as well as hearing about their experiences when they were in Melbourne about 5 to 6 years ago for BK's fellowship.
Got back at about 12 midnite & had to frantically pack for the NZ trip - finally went to bed at about 3am, feeling very happy & contented about my first Christmas downunder.
posted by J Wong at 10:52 PM
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