Christmas 2006

Wishing all a blessed Christmas! Here's a recap on how this year's Christmas has been for me.

21st Dec: My squad organised a Christmas party at a pub! There's buffet and stuff, drinking, pool, and bar-top dancing. But i really couldn't stand the smoking in there. Photo-Hunt saved the day though. Completed it twice with four other friends. We rocked man! At the end of the party, there was a gift exchange too.

22nd Dec: Decided to pay a visit to NUS Wushu as i really missed doing wushu. Coach Guo came down to coach, and he really did a good job. Training was unusually intensive, but i felt great after the workout. It's so nice to be back stretching my body and performing all the exploding movements again. Seems like i really cannot live without wushu. Take wushu away from me and i won't be myself. i know this has nothing to do with Christmas, but i consider it a wonderful present for me.

23rd Dec: Met up with some hall dancers for a Christmas gathering at Fen's. Had potluck for dinner, with spaghetti, chocolate fondue, almond jelly and ice cream. Watched a movie called Sky High. Played charades and card games too. Showed off my collection of anime drawings to some of them. It has been a long time since i looked at them actually. Almost forgotten that i could draw so nicely. i'm pretty rusty now though. Wished i had the time to get back my drawing skills.

24th Dec: Service in the morning at my church. The annual baptism is also held today. It was really nice to see my whole ex-sunday school class (except one) being baptised together, about nine of them. Heard from my sis that some of them missed me (or is it my teaching). Well, i did have some good memories with them, and as their ex-teacher, i'm really proud of them. God enabled the seeds that i've watered to grow. The annual church Christmas lunch followed after the service in the afternoon at some restaurant in the Expo. Pretty amusing to see dear and Benjamin predict the dishes so accurately with such high confidence. i really think that we should revamp the menu. After that, went over to weiming's place for Christmas dinner, a feast that is filled with lots of meat and almost no vegetables. Then dear and i went for this Christmas play at dear's church, titled Dress Rehearsal. i thought it was a pretty good play, in fact, the transition from the worship session into the play was so smooth that i didn't even realise that it started. It was a simple script, but there was a mixture of drama, singing, dance, video and lighting elements injected into it. Pretty commendable. And of course the thing i enjoyed most, singing Christmas carols! Saw dear home after that before joining my family again at weiming's. Decided to forgo the Lord of the Rings marathon that was going on then. Went home just after midnight.

25th Dec: Lunch with my dear's family at Pizza Hut! Didn't eat too much as dear had another Christmas gathering with her secondary school friends in the night. Also managed to get House of Fury DVD for only $10! Watched it at dear's place in the afternoon. Spent the rest of the night playing Titan Quest with my cousin Benjamin.

26th Dec: Family outing to the Esplanade for a free jazz christmas carol performance at the concert hall. The singer (Dawn Ho, i think) and the jazz band were really fabulous, and my whole family enjoyed the session thoroughly even though it was just 30 minutes long. Who said the local arts scene is bad? It just doesn't have as much support as other things like table tennis and soccer.

Just some thoughts, there are so many different ways to celebrate Christmas, but i really wonder how many people actually know the meaning of Christmas. No it's not about Santa Clause. It's about Christ the Saviour. Why is it so widely celebrated all over the world, and why are presents so associated with Christmas? This is because Jesus has given the most wonderful gift to each and every person on Earth, and that is the gift of eternal life, a life free from the bondage of sin, and a life that's purposeful and abundant with God's company. Knowing this allows me to celebrate Christmas with more reason and joy, rather than just celebrating it because everyone is doing so. It's about time we start to question the many things we do in life, not just Christmas alone. You'll be surprised of what you can discover.