Christmas cards

This year, I have decided to send out some Christmas cards.  I wasn’t sure how many ‘some’ actually meant.  Just thought of sending some Christmas cheer in a more traditional way.  FB, whatsapp and twitter are some of the latest ways people connect to each other.  But I believe snail mail does have its unique place.  When was the last time you receive a letter that brighten up your day instead of bills after bills in your mailbox?  I threw in the idea to hubby and he agreed.  That’s the most important step as I need him to help me to get the house address of the church members. 

When I received the list of the addresses from the church office it was already entering the first week of December.  Thank God that my mom and sis were visiting me that few days.  Whenever they are with me, I am free from cooking and most of the household chores.  So, I concentrated on writing Christmas cards.  Even that, it took me four days to complete every single one of them.  By the end of the first day, my fingers were in so much pain.  I wondered how I survived those students’ years where hand-writing was a norm.  The subsequent days I reduced the hour of writing; it was done on a more relaxed mode. 

All in all, there were approximately 135 well-wishes sent out to the faith community.  A minority of them are personal friends or relatives.  Quite a number of them thanked Andrew (whose only involvement was buying the stamps) and me for the effort.  A few members returned the favor by sending us Christmas cards as well.  Nothing significant, yet I am glad to have done a simple act that brought a smile to someone’s face.

Merry Christmas (Oops, sorry.  Now it should be Happy Chinese New Year)!  

Snake Intruder

Sorry, didn't get a better picture.  Was too 'busy'  :p

It was just another evening.  Putting the children to sleep; tidying up the house; and ironing the clothes.  Nothing seemed unusual. 

Hubby just returned from a church meeting.  He’s tired.  It had been a long day for him.  After washing up, he went to bed.  As for me, I continued with my never-ending household chores.  It's passed midnight.  Finally, the last piece of clothing appeared to be free of wrinkles.  I was proud of my achievement.  I kept the iron and was about to switch on the computer.  Early of the day I promised a friend that I would try to search for a short nativity story online.   It was meant for her to train her pupil for a story-telling performance.

Just then, my dog started to bark.  Feeling annoyed, I wondered what trigger the unpleasant reaction.  This would disturb hubby and the children, I thought to myself.  As the noise came from my side door, I drew the curtain away and tried to peep outside the glass door.  I was taken aback initially as I saw a figure.  haha… that was simply me – my reflection in the glass.  Feeling silly, I turned on the porch light.  Still, I spot nothing.  But I noticed that my dog was looking down at the floor and barking.  It appears to me that it could possibly be a snake or a monitor lizard.  Well, that seems fine with me.  In fact, I think a human intruder is more scary.  Don’t you agree?

With a big sigh, I unlocked the front door and braved myself to check out the cause of my dog’s barking.  I would certainly prefer my husband to do so.  But knowing that normally after the business meeting it would take him awhile to fall sleep.  And it would be my last resort to interrupt him with some petty insect.  Well, I do enjoy the cold air at night as I marched towards the side door. 

Looking from a distance, I saw something long and black.  Even with the light on, I couldn’t see clearly.  It didn’t look like a monitor lizard.  Could it be a snake?  But… a snake with this size?!?  It couldn’t be.  Cowardly, I dared not to move closer for a better view.  I retreated to the house searching for a torch light and my mobile phone.  Perhaps I can get a better picture with the torch light; alternately I could snap a picture and enlarge it to identify what creature is that.

Having done so, I was quite certain that this IS a snake.  A snake with this size… this is no joke.  So, I went back into the house and woke hubby up.  Calmly I told him, “There’s a snake, quite a big one.”  Hubby got up and followed me to the porch.  He was stunned when he saw it with his eyes; even with my warning.  “This is a python”, hubby exclaimed with unbelief.

He took the gardening tools and decided to smack its head.  “Are you sure?”  I questioned him.  And that’s when the drama begins.  The snake was lying still all these while until hubby attacked it.  It reacted and crawled up to the window panel.  And then it launched back to attack hubby but failed.  It then crawled swiftly to the bushes at the backyard and disappeared into the night.

To be honest, our backyard was quite unkempt due to the lack of gardener in church.  There were banana trees, mango tree, guava tree, and some unknown species growing all over.  I have been nagging about this tiny jungle for quite awhile yet my voice was not heard.  Now thanks to this python; after this incident, the leadership of the church acted upon it swiftly and cleared off the entire backyard.  Now the backyard looks so neat and tidy.  Although it’s a pity to cut down the fruit trees, I have been struggling to maintain it. 

Work in progress

Finally, a neat backyard

A little amusement

The care and love from the church family is also evidently shown after this incident.  The next morning, a few church members called up and even offered to buy sulfur for us.  The leadership proposed for us to move elsewhere.  And one of them actually offered us their house to stay.    We sincerely thank each one of them for their concern. 

And not forgetting our dog; it certainly serves us well although there are times I feel so frustrated with the mess it creates.

It was a night to be remembered.  After all, how many people would get a chance to see a wild python this size in their backyard?  



ps: after the entire night's hoo-hah, hubby went back to sleep. And suddenly the thought came to him that he should have called the fire brigade.  Well, guess all the adrenaline didn't help us to think of it. 

Birthday Party

It all started out with a challenge: If you score top 3 in your class, then you will have a birthday party this year.  That’s the challenge to my little girl.

She has been pestering us to organize a birthday party for years… but hubby and I are not the ‘party’ type.  So, we didn’t agree to have one.  But her persistency paid off.  Finally I laid out my condition; however I didn’t expect her to achieve it.  She has been in the top 10 since Standard 1 but never top 3.  Her lack of self motivation in improving her study bothers me a bit.  I know she could do better than that, but nagging her to study during exam season frustrates me.  So, a birthday party seems to be a good carrot.

Soon, I was astounded and a little regretful for giving my word.  That little girl actually attained 1^st place in her Mid Term exam. Mommy has to keep her promise, right?  So, we begin to explore the possibilities – a party at home or a party at McDonald. 

I have friends that organized birthday party for their kids at home.  They set a theme for each party – superhero, Thomas the train, and etc.  The decoration around the house, the photo corner, the birthday cake, the presentation of the food, even the family wore outfits that coincide with the theme.  Lots of work but the idea is fantastic, isn’t it?  I just wondered do I have the capabilities to do that…. *faint

The next frightening scenario is: To socialize with the parents.  Seriously, I am just not very good in this aspect.  Hubby will definitely hand over the baton to me with the excuse that these parents speak mainly Mandarin, and that is out of the question for him. 

Having the party at McDonald would be ideal coz the personnel would handle the kids; I don’t have to organize games to entertain them.  The food is settled; so does the decoration.  Moreover, I am saved from all the cleaning before and after the event.  If you do all the cleaning in the house, I am sure you would empathize with me.  But our major concern for this is $$.  To our amazement, we found out that all we need to do is to purchase a Happy Meal for each kid that attends the birthday party.  NO extra charges whatsoever.  If there are more than 10 pax, the McD personnel will organize games for the group.  Sounds like a good deal, isn’t it?

So, the one thing left is to design an invitation card.  Mommy did a sample and showed it to our birthday girl.  Once it is approved by our VIP, the mass production began to roll.  Elyse handed out the invitation cards to her classmates and we waited for their reply. 

Majority of the participant were Elyse’s classmates, with a few exceptions from the church.  We ordered a birthday cake for my darling and everything else fell into place.  (Actually there’s nothing much to do after that…)

On Elyse’s big day, we brought her to McDonald 15 minutes earlier.  Both Elyse and Erwyn were exhilarated.  As her friends arrived, the McD personnel conducted a Game Time with the kids.  They played 3 games altogether.  The winners of each game received a complimentary gift pack from McDonald.  Wow, that was really a bonus! 

Birthday Deco at McD

Game Time!

After the games, the children were starving.  Now is the time to feed the hungry souls with the very much anticipated ‘Happy Meal’.  As the kids finished up the last fries, we took the birthday cake out and sang the birthday song to my little princess. 

Finally, one after another the parents picked their children up and we retreated to our paradise.  Wait… the fun was not over yet!  There were lots of presents waiting to be opened by the birthday girl.  Eagerly, Elyse unwrapped the present one by one.  Her screamed of excitement filled the entire house; whereas the mother was beginning to worry how and where to keep all these stuff.

All in all, it was a good birthday celebration for my girl.  This meant the whole world to the little princess.  As parents, we are so very satisfied with the service given by McDonald.  No mess, no cleaning, no cooking… A happy child with a happy mom.