The Complex Life of an Singaporean Mummy/Wife trying to raise Eurasian Canadian Children

← Previous Post

Christmas Eve, Day and Boxing Weekend Recap

As i am writing this Christmas Eve and Day, Boxing Day and Weekend are over. It was relatively quiet Christmas. Which had its own merits, that ... and there were only 5 of us. 1 is in her 80s, 2 are in their 60s and 2 are in their 30s. Not going to get any rowdy that is for sure. My inlaws arrived on the 21st evening after much adventure of having arrived at the airport and spending the next 1.5hours trying to figure out how to get to their rented car. The eventually arrived at the condo safe and sound.

The couple of days before Christmas were spent running around doing last minute shopping.

Tuesday - 22nd Dec 2009
Before i say anything else, this day happens to be my sister's 17th birthday too! She definitely got a nice haul of birthday pressies this year. A new Samsung mobile phone from my dad (lucky brat!), a pair of SGD$150 headphones (lucky brat!), a SGD$120 shopping spree at MNG with my mom, and a shipment of Threadless tees from me. Sure is good being the youngest in the family.

Hubbie's nana had mentioned on the phone a few nites before that she would like to try our Snuggie as Hubbie had mentioned that Dusk likes to gnaw on the Snuggie while he kneads on it with his front paws. So the morning after they arrived, she was sitting on the sofa and saw the Snuggie at its usual resting spot at the end of the sofa. She tried it and liked it very much! Yes! Present idea! Woohoo!!! I called dibs! *grin* I didn't know what to get Hubbie's nana for Christmas so heh i was just so happy to have found something she would like to have. So we spent the 22nd of Dec wondering around Kingsway Mall. Made a couple of stops and even got myself a simple Christmas pressie of the netipot! I have heard and seen much about it from watching Dr. Oz on tv and thought if it helps my stuffed up nose to be cleared up in the mornings i am going to try. Afterall, the netipot only cost CDN$10 and the ingredients needed after that was 1/2 tsp of salt with 1 cup of clear warm water. I used it a couple of days ago and it works fine and well for me. Yippeee!! No more stuffed up nose. Though going to bed at a decent time helps too.

Wednesday - 23rd Dec 2009
The day before Christmas Eve was spent running around Costco for a good 1 hour because Alexander had introduced us to this 1.13 kg container of premium mixed nuts and it only cost CDN$13. Which really is a BIG STEAL! We didn't know if we would be able to get to go to Costco in time before Christmas so the day before we had spent CDN$10 each on a small container of 300gms of rather stale mixed nuts at Sears @ Kingsway Mall.

Now this trip to Costco for the 2 containers of 1.13 kg container of premium mixed nuts @ CDN$13 turned up to be a trip that cost us CDN$330! Our haul included a pack of ribs, a pack of chicken breast, a pack of chicken thighs, 2 packs of fresh salmon, 3 containers of premium mixed nuts, 1 container each of roasted almonds, cashews, and chocolate covered raisins, 1 bag of pistachios, a Billy Blanks workout DVD, Disney's 'UP' DVD, a box set of all the Aliens, Predators and Alien vs Predator movies, and 2 boxes of assorted chocolate bars...... P.H.E.W!!!!!! Though Hubbie was really happy with his HUGE stash of nuts. *heehee*

Later in the evening, Kathleen had invited us over to her place for a pre-Christmas dinner and a nite of board games. Hanging out with Kathleen and Mike for a nite of board games can never be dull or boring. We got to play with the newest addition to her extensive collection of board games - Canada-opoly! *grin* Think i won with a rather big margin on that one. *giggles* It was definitely nice of her to have invited us over for dinner so close to Christmas. Think we got home at about 1.30am.

Thursday - 24th Dec 2009
Hubbie spent most of Christmas Eve 'deboning' the 3.8kg turkey we had bought at Save-on-food near Kingsway Mall. (Apparently, it was a really good deal too cos we only paid CDN$13 for it.) Traditionally, Christmas dinner is prepared by his mom and nana. However, he decided he wanted to try cooking Christmas dinner this year. He did have to spend quite some time explaining and justifying his want to debone the turkey to his nana which to me was quite an amusing sight. There he was standing in the kitchen trying to justify his actions to his nana with such a cute look on his face.

Now you didn't think i would see this scene and not snap a photo of it did you?

Later in the evening, we all bundled up into the rental Nissan Altima and headed out for Christmas Mass. This was the 2nd time i have attended Christmas Mass and even though it wasn't a religion i practice it was a tradition that should be observed as a family. The church we went to was really packed. By the time we got there for the 5pm mass, we had to sit in the courtyard where they had set up a big screen tv for us to observe the service. After mass, it was KFC dinner for Christmas Eve. Hubbie and myself had to rush through dinner as we had made plans to meet with one of Hubbie's ex-coworkers from camp who was in town for a couple of days before flying back into camp for work. Ron was definitely a friendly guy and it was nice to have met him in person after all the stories i had heard from Hubbie. He had suffered from stroke back in March and it was good to hear that he is well on the road to recovery and is fit enough to go back to work.

Friday - 25th Dec 2009
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

I woke up pretty early cos i wanted to shower and look somewhat awake for photos. Ok, ok... i even put on some makeup but heh i still wore my PJs and a Christmas hat. I always have this image in my mind that Christmas Day when everyone opens their present they will still be in their PJs because that is what you do first thing you wake up in the morning. But heh i kinda wanted to look somewhat decent in photos. *lol*

Merry Christmas from Me, Dusk and Dawn!

Two days before Christmas, i had looked at the Christmas pressie that i was going to be getting from Hubbie and the family... there was one that was for me from the whole family. For some reason, i had a hunch i was getting a Wii for Christmas this year. After all the hinting to Hubbie about wanting a Wii i finally got one when i unwrapped that pressie on Christmas morning! *grin* YIPPEE!!!!!! *grin* The Wii console with 2 controllers and nunchuks, a charger for the controllers, with Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort and Wii Play for games was the big pressie from Hubbie, my parents-in-law and Hubbie's nana. My MIL also gave me a gift card from Starbucks with a 3pack VIA. (Funnily enough, i got her the same exact pressie as well. *lol*) While Hubbie's nana gave me a small crystal Christmas Tree from Swarovski (my favourite store!), she said it was to start me on my Christmas Decor collection after seeing how i had really made an effort to decorate the condo for Christmas. My DIL gave me a nice knitted matching toque and scarf set. Hubbie had also bought me a hot water bottle bag from Le Senza which is so nice and fluffy! Heehee.

Our Christmas tree almost buried in a sea of pressies.

After we had unwrapped all our pressies, it was almost time for brunch so i mixed up a batch of vanilla crepes served with mixed berries sprinkled with icing sugar for everyone. You know, come to think of it, i didn't take any photos of the crepes i made. Everyone seemed to enjoy their crepes.... at least i think they did. For the rest of the afternoon, everyone was kicked out of the kitchen because Hubbie was in there preparing the turkey, the stuffing, mashed potatoes, peas and a lemon meringue pie for dessert. How does that sound to you for a Christmas feast? While Hubbie slogged away in the kitchen what did i do? Played for 2.5 hours straight on my pressie.... Wii!!! After that, i think i gathered my pressies to the bedroom and napped till dinner was ready to be served. *lol*

Christmas Morning

When dinner was served, it was definitely a feast... omg i have never been so stuffed in my life after a meal. *heehee* Again.... no photos were taken of the spread on the table. UGH! Sillie me. This has definitely got to be the very few occasions where i hardly picked up my camera to snap a shot or two or more. I have no explanation(s) for that.

Saturday - 26th Dec 2009
Well, boxing day sales weekend has arrived.

I had spent the first 2 hours of Boxing Day on google video chat with my Knotty Bicsie Crafting Club friends in Singapore. They were having a Boxing Day party and wanted me to be part of it so they webcammed me into the party. Which i thought was a neat idea! Which also meant that i didn't get into bed till about 2am.

Even then i managed to drag myself out of bed at 8am. I had just finished brushing my teeth and was still trying to wake myself up when Hubbie informed me that my MIL and DIL were all ready to head out in 15mins. We had planned to take the car out for a quick shopping trip at Micheals cos i wanted to grab some storage boxes for my craft materials at a cheap price. Hubbie managed to negotiate with the parentals and i got dressed with makeup and all within 20-25mins so that we could hitch a ride out to the Micheals in the West end. Don't think i have ever moved that fast in my life! *grin* DIL treated us to a nice breakfast at Denny's... can never say no to breakfast at Denny's. Nope. Always good to have breakfast at Denny's.

When we got to Micheals it was surprisingly quiet and almost empty. There were no line ups and the parking lot was almost empty! That was a surprise. I guessed everyone was at WEM cashing in on Boxing Day sales, eh? 95% of the items i bought at Michaels were either on 40% or 50% off. Yeah for deals during Boxing Day! *heehee* I was quiet happy with what i walked away with that morning. That was the only shopping i did on Boxing Day too. *lol*

And with that, i conclude my Christmas Eve, Day and Boxing Day weekend recap. *heehee* Haven't typed up such a long entry in a while now. Hope everyone had a good Christmas and that it was filled with new memories shared with family and friends.