MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!!
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| Out for a day of Christmas! |
And congratulations on surviving yet another end-of-the-world! 😀
Christmas has changed heaps & bounds for me over my years of growing up.
When I was a little girl (not very long ago, okay!), I would be spending 24th December with my family in my cousin’s house! It was tradition. 🙂 And we’d all have a hearty & utterly sinful dinner and the entire house would be filled with loads of chitter-chatter about anything & everything that happened during the year.
My cousins (Kathlyn & Frances) and I would be upstairs in their room. We would be talking and doing nonsense… And we would be the most mindful of the clock to strike twelve-midnight – because that would mean…
TIME TO RIP OPEN THOSE PRESENTS UNDER THE CHRISTMAS TREE!!!!!
Three of us even took it upon ourselves to distribute the presents to other recipients as well!
Then slowly… Three of us didn’t really care much about the clock striking twelve anymore.
We used to just drop whatever board games or stuff we were doing and just run down the steps, screaming, “MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!” And put the entire house in a jolly-Christmas mood.
I guess when three of us grew up to young adults, presents didn’t seem to matter much anymore. We wanted to properly spend time with each other.
I honestly don’t know if this is a good thing or bad thing…
I guess we kept on linking Christmas to presents; that once we didn’t really crave for the presents anymore, we did not feel like it was Christmas.
Now that’s not a good thing.
Don’t get me wrong! Don’t stop giving me presents!!
I loooooove receiving presents. *grins*
After a few more years, the family stopped meeting in full-swing. Some went overseas during the period, some made plans with friends… It just didn’t feel like Christmas anymore; so cold, empty & sometimes tension over church matters.
Then came this year.
A little bit of Christmas sparkle came back. 🙂
No, a bulk of the family is overseas.
No, still didn’t receive as many presents as I used to.
But I’ll tell you what… I finally remembered that Christmas meant Love.
And as cheesy as it might sound – love is literally everywhere.
People, the world isn’t all that ugly y’know. :))
***Stuff at the bottom are a tad lengthy & quite emotional. Skip if you don’t feel like reading! :)***
My boyfriend, Mark loves me more than anything in the world. He tolerates all my crap, my unpredictable tempers, my whines & demands… and at the end of the day he still kisses me and tells me how much he thanks God for giving me to him. And he still manages to find beauty in me despite all my battle scars and ugly flaws. How is it I’m so blessed to have someone so amazing love me so much?
I have a lovable bestie, Lily. Our friendship had been tested before and we came back around. She’s the kind of person that I could share just about anything with. We are the kind of friends that can not meet for a long period, but still bounce back to being close just like that. *does snap action!* Hehe. This girl is practically family to me. She’s the kind that I’d fly around the globe if she needed me to be there for her. (Lily, if you’re reading this… It doesn’t mean you literally go to the other side of the world… Get into shit… Call me & expect me to be there ah. If it really happens, I will be there. Just don’t do it for the sake of doing it, because I will slap you. But I love you, babe!) And she always offers to help me out whenever something happens. Even if sometimes it isn’t something useful… She always does something comforting, at the least.
I have friends like Clive, Malathi and Yu Ping who are just awesome friends, I swear. Rain or shine, I can count on these three to be there for me. They’d listen to all my crap, wipe away my tears and say something hilariously consoling that everything just becomes a joke. They want so much for me to be happy in life and we all just love each other to no end. Clive is just such an adorable yet annoying baboon. Mala is my lovable Indian – anything she says sounds innocent yet corrupted at the same time. Yu Ping is like the mediator throughout everything with her calmness. I think someone should do a show out of us… We are hell amusing sometimes.
I have a darling, Geradine. We were friends since our first day in CHIJ St Theresa’s. 😀 All because we have somewhat the same names. Her’s is just without the “L”. I love the way she would just flood my Whatsapp with uber long & emotional messages whenever things happen. Not that I like bad things happening to her… but I like to know that I can be a listening (reading?) ear (eye?) to her. And assure her that everything is going to be alright. And she always offers to run to me whenever anything bad happens to me and wants to take care of me. Counting the years, we’ve been friends for about a whole decade now! Darling, I feel happy for our friendship… but sad for my age.
Not forgetting my Blondes – Wai Soe, Ferlyn, Atiqah and Melinda! All so beautiful and loving…. :))
Close friend like Nien Ting who never fails to check up on me every time. 😀 And is such a cool friend to have around.
Understanding friend like Zann; who is always so sweet.
Sickeningly great friend like Shawn F.; who gives me sound advice along with crazy comments along the way.
Little brother like Katsuhito who specialises in saying crap all the time to make me burst out in laughter.
Awesome buddy like Eric J. who never failed to stand by me throughout. Heck, I even asked him, “If I murdered someone, would you still stand by me?” He replied, “Yes, because you’re not of the nature to do something like that. If you did, chances are that f**ker really deserved it.” LOL.
And I was blessed with a class of super adorable children before I felt that *inserts censored word* place. 😛 I love all of them – Tina, Nick, Pepsi, Tom, May, Alicia and James. :)) And crazy awesome colleagues while I was there like Francesca, Crystal, Meredith, Esther, Audrey, Nhung, Ting Ting, Xiao Yan, James, Dakila, Smriti, Eve… Oh gosh.
Okay, I’m getting emotional.
I have so many people who love me dearly. 🙂 And after a while I feel that Christmas is a time set by God to…
1. Of course, remind us of the birth of Jesus Christ.
2. Remind us of the people that love us
And Christmas just gives me another reason (not that I ever need it) to show extra love to these people! :))
There are still some people who I have not mentioned here… Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten you!! How could I forget people who love me? 😉
Of course I haven’t forgotten my family! Can’t wait to see them all again at our next family gathering! ❤
Just before Christmas, I was staying with Lily… And lookie! We were like Santa’s elves.
She baked the cookies. I drew the decorations!
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| The L.G. Cookies |
And I spent about 3 hours wrapping gifts.
The candy-wrapper ones took forever… I was indignant till I saw Lily put them into proper bags for transport to their receivers. Haha!
And my little companion who was always disturbing me?
Little Lily = Penny!!
Bwahahaha.
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| Penny the Reindeer! |
She’s so cute, please!
So… To me, Christmas is no longer about receiving presents.
Ahem. Okay, let me rephrase.
Christmas is no longer JUST about receiving presents.
Better put this, or I’m never going to receive presents from my smart alec friends again…
It’s about the people around you – not the presents.
I’ve been looking at the wrong “p” for a few years now.
I usually hate to admit this…. but – Daddy, I think I’m growing up again! 🙂
XOXO. Love Love.
Gera Shen 