~* Lovely Christmas *~

OoOHH, Christmas updayted! Had a Christmas Eve family collaboration dinner with 7th Aunt and family. We had Western food. The usual Christmas Turkey and roasted Lamb Leg is a must. Due to objection from 7th Aunt, am not allowed to publish the pictures of the dishes we had that night - She's always thinking what she (perfectionist) is serving isn't good enough; which fortunately is untrue -- mm, a trait I must somehow inherited from her too. We had a lovely dinner, and oh, red wine also.

But 7th Aunt didn't stop me from posting up her lovely Christmas tree -- Well, she doesn't know.

Right after dinner that night, we went to Blessed Sacrament Church for Christmas mass. Started at 12:00 am and ended almost at 2:00 am. I supposed the long hours wasn't caused by the long sermon but by many carols being sung. And I didn't bring my camera to church. :)

On Christmas Day, I had a few guests, though did not invite anyone other than a few friends as I would not consider what we had was an 'open house'. By evening, we had dinner at Youngest Uncle's residence where I bumped into a couple of schoolmates - pretty surprising, at a relative's house! I wanted to take picture for the night but I forgot to bring my camera... Sigh.

On the 2nd Day of Christmas a.k.a Boxing Day... We had another family dinner at my cousin's house to celebrate an aunt's 76th Birthday. Was a great dinner indeed, too. So many dishes, so little space in the tummy. Aaahh... And all the calories. But does it really matter? Even without the weight - I'd still look the same. Was really great to see all from overseas who came back, just to reunite with the family on the special occasions. Keeps me reminiscing of the years that flew past before my eyes as I see my nieces and nephews growing up and getting older. It made me realise how I have made it through the years, in one piece, thanks to family, God and trusted ones.

The beautiful Christmas tree that had my gift beneath it, at my cousin's house.

Reminds me of the "May The Light Shine Upon You" phrase.

Mixed - Vegetables. Hmm. I love veggies!

Fried Chicken Wings... I had them for free!

Chicken Satays... Lovely.

Potatoes!

Turkey! (I think)

Woo... You don't mess with Ze... *slurps* Hehe..


This is the Malaysian beans.. I love Chai Tow!


Noodle of Longevity


Spaghetties

With all these food and Drinks....

*GgRrrr*


Stout... PAIL.


Juices

A lovely Birthday Cake....

Cake courtesy of Alda's Cakes... My cousin baked this! Yes HE did!

AND a JoyFuL bunch...


Although it came and it went,




....... Do I have a reason to not feel Blessed ?

Feliz Navidad*~

Two words: Feliz Navidad. That is a Spanish phrase meaning 'Merry Christmas' or literally "Happy Nativity". Yup, those are the definitions I got from Wikipedia. Hee, Hee.

With just about a week to Christmas Day, and 'Merry Christmas' the phrase to utter to all fellow Christians I'm meeting, I asked myself, I looked around and -- ask myself again, what makes Christmas, Christmas?

One thing I have realised, many are celebrating Christmas without knowing what actually Christmas is all about. Some are celebrating because it's just another festive day, to some it's the time of showing some love by exchanging gifts or have some roasted turkey or lamb leg for dinner. To another it could just be insignificant. What is Christmas really?

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem centuries ago. Christ, the Son Of God was born on 25th December. Hence 25th December=Christmas Day=Birth of Jesus Christ! And yes, it is a celebration. A celebration of the coming of child Jesus The Saviour.

How am I celebrating MY Christmas Day this year? I humbly started by setting up a Christmas tree (just last night, honestly). My Christmas tree came a long way. It's almost as old as I am, I think. Decorating the Christmas tree is already an understood task of mine every year. So here I am, showing off to the world (for the first maiden time!) how I have decorated my Christmas tree this year!


This is how it looked like when I just started.... Few big silver BALLS which I bought last year I think... and I bought MORE silver BALLS this year... But tinier ones. You'll see them in the final result of my tree! (Note: Ignore the messy background, house-cleaning is still in progress!)



So this year, I decided to make it a "White Christmas" since I seem to have so many white decorations, and as always, I love white, so white it is this year as oppose to my golden tree last year.
In order to create the snowing effect... Here goes the nicely-shaped Polystyrene I got from either my aunt or uncle few years back.... TaaaDAAAAAA >>> Snow! ;)



After few hours of drilling, yes tree drilling... to get the best out of my white stuffs; YES, white decors I meant -- This is how my tree looks like after being decorated and sitting pretty at its intended location (Yes, it's night time by the time I'm done with it.):

Please do take note of my lovely Reindeer at the top...

I shall end this post with a lovely verse from one of my favourite Christmas carols...

"Its all a dream and illusion now
It must come true, sometime soon somehow
All across the land dawns a brand new morn
This comes to pass when a child is born..."


Here's wishing you from the bottom of my heart, have a Blessed Christmas!

With Love.

Reminiscing My Life in KK

More than 3 months have passed since my last return to Kota Kinabalu. I graduated on the 24th August 2008 to be exact.

After living a few years in KK ever since I started my first year in the pursuit of my degree, I could not help but wonder what I have gathered when I return to my hometown; and I still am, wondering.

Was I happy? Did i learn a lot? I made new friends? I had new foes *smiles* ?

.... Truth is, I don't know. I didn't even feel much when I was there. It was just like a dream. I was there. Time flies, and I'm back.

Yes, time flies. Every single semester just passed, like that. Yet, every semester was a different tale. Every semester I left my hometown feeling weighed down. I dreaded the times to go back and stay at the uni's off-campus hostel. So much of the 'dislikes' that I felt, I managed. Over the years, I had learned the art of 'numbing' the feeling in situations that were not likely to be pleasant.

Okay, it was not bad afterall. People would think of Kota Kinabalu as a very 'ulu' (backward) city as they would of any other cities in East Malaysia a.k.a Borneo. Truth is, it's not so bad afterall. Okay, I sound so lame describing, but forgive me, I'm still unable to feel. I'm trying now. and trying.

First year passed in no time, I survived. I had two West Malaysian roommates in my first year. Strange as it was, the three of us managed one whole bloody year cramming in one helluva small room. It's really crammed, even with one double-decker bed. I had the single bed. Our so-called 'hostel' was located about 15 minutes off-campus by bus. I am kinda proud thinking back, that I actually was pretty happy with that and did not intend to apply into campus although facilities were much much better, but heyy, minus the freedom. :) So Okay, I survived my degree staying at this 'hostel' which is actually a normal residential area turned 'hostel'. That was legendary Taman Indah Permai, a 'black' area known for its crime cases. We undergraduates were living in double-storey terrace houses, in which one house could accommodate 7 weird girls.

I shall sum up first year as a very blurry year, I wasn't almost sure what the hell I was doing back then. There lots to digest and time was speeding. But in two words, pretty OK. Oh. before that, I felt like I wanted to whack a lady working in MAS dealing with Grads card. (but then again, I was pretty good at 'numbing' my feelings, so I left it at that.) She seemed to have problems. That was in first year. After that, Air Asia came to the rescue. Pheww. I didn't see the 'lady' anymore. Good.

Ahh. I sense this is getting complicated. I need a break.

To be continued....