I've never celebrated Christmas, at least not in the traditional way. When I was young, all my knowledge of Christmas came from books, TV shows and movies. Because I watched a lot of American TV, for a long time, I thought Thanksgiving was related to Christmas! Of course I know better now. To the young me, Christmas meant snow, Christmas trees, presents and turkey. Of course there was Santa Claus.
I knew Santa Claus wasn't real because in Singapore most homes did not have chimneys and no chimneys - no Santa. Also, I did not receive any presents when I was a kid. I hoped for a very, very long time that snow would fall in Singapore. Of course I know now cold can be unbearable. Plus Singapore is too close to the equator.
I received my first Christmas present when I worked for an American company. Christmas was BIG in this company, almost compulsory. When I turned up for work on Christmas eve, there were presents on my desk! I received a t-shirt and something ornamental. I gave the givers nothing in return because I had no idea! There was a Christmas party everyone had to attend at night. A new guy asked me to attend it with him. I said yes and waited for him to pick me up in the evening. He called later to say he had to skip the party as he had a conference call. I did not attend the party after all as I was too embarrassed to attend it alone.
When I got married, me hubs and I did not observe any traditions for Christmas until we had kids. My kids knew Christmas from kindy. Christmas is BIG in kindy. So I bought a tiny ornamental Christmas tree and bought the kids presents because they expected it. We did this until they outgrew kindy.
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This was 2004 |
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Christmas morning, 2004 |
1 year me mom was living with me during the Christmas period and she got a present too!
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Her present? Tea bags. I snagged the container! |
What I like to do during the Christmas period is go to
Orchard Road to look at the Christmas decorations, trees and light-up. We used to go every year at night because the effect is different. But I noticed that as my kids grew older, they really showed a lack of enthusiasm and I fear it's just me that's excited by the light-up.
This week I took a break from sewing because I wanted to take a break from sewing. We went to Orchard Road during the day and the decorations were pretty impressive. Here are some nativity scenes.
The decorations were pretty inpressive too.
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Santa Cow? |
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Big balls |
Of course, the malls went crazy with the trees.
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A street tree - wish I could see it at night! |
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This tree is really tall - almost 3 storeys high. |
I have to show you The Most Pathetic Christmas Tree In Singapore. It's at a shopping place near my home.
What is Christmas without cakes and cookies? My kids did the work. I watched and washed up!
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The kids did not enjoy getting their hands dirty. |
The cookies tasted delicious even though some came out darker than the rest. We ate everything within 2 days.
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Choc chips cookies, can you tell? |
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Choc chips cup cakes, can you tell? |
The kids made cup cakes and since they liked choc chips on everything..... These disappeared into our tummies within 2 days as well.
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Star cake? |
No, we didn't bake this one. Me hubs brought it home from work. I have to say it is way too sweet. I ate everything but the icing. My kids are afraid of fancy cakes. Couldn't get them to eat it. One reason I prefer to bake my own cup cakes is I can put less sugar.
Happy holidays everyone!
4 comments:
Happy Holidays to you too! It's always a pleasure to visit your blog!
merry Christmas Jane. I hope its a great one for you and your lovely family.
MERRY CHRISTMAS JANE.... that little tree is a bit sad.
Can you not get on the MRT and go into Orchard Road at night to see the lights on the trees etc?
Merry Christmas to you! I hope that you have a lovely holiday with your family. We have decorated a bit , but not too much, but it has been a lovely day!
Micki
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