Christmas 2015

This year, I am totally guilty of being an ill-prepared amateur.  Unlike previous years, I didn't prepare any presents for others except my two little kiddos.  I felt so terrible when little children came to me with expectancy yet I have nothing to offer them.  I guess all the packing and unpacking have drained up all my energy.  I remembered those few weeks my feet was in pain whenever I walk that I could hardly shop around in malls.  And waking up on Christmas Eve with severe backache that I couldn't bend down for a few days.  Signs of old age???  Oh please.... I refuse to admit.

But this year in the midst of festive mood we missed Ah Gong very much.  This is our first year without Ah Gong.  I used to help Ah Gong to wrap up all the presents for my children.  Life is precious.  Take time to be with your loved one while you may.

We are so thankful to so many people for blessing us with the countless presents.  Our Christmas tree looks so small compared to all the presents we received.  Perhaps it's time to buy a bigger tree?

It has always been my desire to have a big Christmas tree.  Guess what?  That's one of the presents I received this year!!!  We shall put that up next year, ya?!

The children eagerly waited to open up their presents after the Christmas Day Service.  It's such a joy to see the smile on their faces. 

The greatest present is found in the heart of the present itself: The love of someone who carefully selected the gift, wrapped them up and presented it to us.  Thank you!  We are so blessed to have you in our lives.

Whilst all the gifts are special and unique and my kids love each of them, there's one particular present I would like to highlight it here.  This present was bestowed by none other than my dear hubby to my little princess - VOUCHERS!!!

The vouchers entitled my girl to severals benefits/advantages such as:

- This voucher entitled Lim Elyse to have an extra 30 minutes before bedtime.
- This voucher entitled Lim Elyse to choose what she wants for dinner.
- This voucher entitled Lim Elyse to eat another three spoonful of her lunch/dinner.

Isn't it cool?  Only my notorious, sly hubby could think of such gift.  But at the same time, don't you think it's kind of...... LOL  

Yay holiday!

Finally, time to take a break and go for a well deserved holiday.  We made a last minute plan to visit my sis in JB after Christmas, for the kids missed their cousins dearly.

It's been quite awhile for hubby to travel back to JB with me.  I am so glad he managed to come this time.

The best of all is meeting up with my primary school friends.  After Standard 6, my family shifted and I have lost touch with most of them.  It was until recent years, we are re-connected via FB. Twenty-seven years of friendship... wow, isn't that amazing!

Another reunion with a sis-in-Christ.  We used to work together under one roof, enduring all the 'hardship' and 'persecution'.  Thank you for being my support and listening ears those days.

And finally, my sis was so incredible.  She prepared a barbecue feast for us all.  The children were excited to play with fire whereas the adults had some fun time getting ourselves 'on fire' under the rain.

How else to burn those calories away without a little exercise?  Enjoying the cold breeze as it was still drizzling.  Children are not allowed to but apparently the mother broke the rule.  shhh.... don't tell them, ok?

That concludes the highlight of our JB trip.  See you in a couple of month's time, JB!

Carolling

Back in my younger days, I used to join carolling every year without fail.  Life was much simpler then.  We only practiced the carols for one or two rounds before we were sent forth.  The lack of skill and talent did not stop our enthusiasm or passion.  We were a bunch of crazy youngsters ever ready to bring the carols to every home that invited us.

A Carolling Night during my youth.  Can anyone spot me?

 
I used to dream of inviting carollers to my house.  And this year, this dream finally came into reality.
Perhaps my only disappointment was, it was still bright and early when the carollers arrived.  The idea of carollers holding candles, singing carols and walking towards my house remain a dream after all.  These youth + children were definitely more professional, with a conductor and a few guitarists.  There were around 30 of them cramped into my tiny living room.  I was surprised to see Brennice and Clark amongst the group as they are of the same age as my daughter.

We prepared some snacks for these awesome group of carollers.  Glad that some of the utensils that I brought back from Subang were put to good use.  The carollers lingered for a while before they moved on to the next house.  We literally sent them off by walking together with them all the way to ACS (where the bus was waiting).  My kids really enjoyed the fellowship of all the gor gor and jie jie.  Whereas their parents were a bit exhausted as both of them are the typical introvert.  The night was still young.  We cleaned up the mess and left quickly to Mei Ling's house for another round of chaos.

This year, Koon Roy and Mei Ling had graciously opened up their house not only for the carollers, but also as a gesture of thanksgiving to the organising committee of the church camp for the past two years.  After the dinner, we waited patiently for the guests of honor (the carollers) to arrive.

Dressed in red and black, the carollers broke the silent of the night with their beautiful voices.  I love Shearn's solo on 'O Holy Night', one of my favourite carols. 

Thank you for blessing us with your angelic voices.  Thank you for all the hardwork prior to this.  Perhaps I should be part of these sweet voices next year!  Wait a minute: Am I too old for this?

Carolling rocks!!!

Cleaned up; Packed up

Our days in Subang were dull and monotonous.  Andrew looked through most of the stuff while I concentrated on the kitchen utensils.  My mom-in-law was an excellent cook and baker.  How shameful am I that I picked up none of her culinary skills.

We also left a number of personal stuff in Subang as we have been on the move.  I am glad to discover some of the precious things that I have long forgotten.  Thanks to technology, we are now able to snap pictures of those precious momentos.  However, with a heavy heart we had to discard them as we could not take everything with us.

Andrew's painting back then... with a little help from his art teacher

Interesting artefact - a ticket to the zoo with only 15 cents entry fee

some of Andrew's trophies

So happy to find this picture of my car with all the soft toys... yup, I used to arrange my soft toys at the back of my car but not anymore

This was handmade by ..... yours sincerely!!!  Attended a children's conference at DUMC years ago and this was my price possession

Finally, we arranged for a lorry to transport all the stuff down to Melaka.  To our amazement, the driver advised us to take a three-tonned lorry instead of the initial one-tonned.  Seriously?!?  Now Andrew's part is over and I'm left to organise a three-tonned lorry load of goods into my already-cramped-house in Melaka.  Do I possess any migical power to make it possible?

Trust me, we threw away a lot a lot more than this

It took us another one week to unpack and put things in place in Melaka.  And yes, looks like my organising skill is apparently not too bad.  I re-arranged the storage place and in fact, the house looks better than before with all the additional shelves.

Andrew and I have always been living at bare minimum.  We made use of whatever that is given to us wherever we are posted to.  For eg: we have been sleeping on mattresses for the past one year plus.  Only recently, we got a bed for ourselves once we were more certain we would be here for a while.  The few furnitures from Subang enhanced our home.  The TV rack, dining table, piano and finally we hanged our wedding picture up. 

Well, I could have take my own sweet time to tidy up the house.  However, this year we have decided to invite the carrollers over and I would never, ever present a messy home to anyone.  Hence, the stress!

Back to hometown

Just when I thought this year's school holiday would be a less eventful time as compared to last year; how wrong am I!!! 

After the passing away of my father-in-law, the house back in Subang was left vacant and we haven't had time to go back since.  Andrew thought of renting out the house though.  As much as we love to visit Subang more often, time is not in our favour.  Hence, it is better to have a good tenant taking care of the house than to leave it as it is.  Besides, the extra income certainly helps.  Just when we were at a loss of how to get a good tenant (well, a good tenant is hard to come by), we found one via Andrew's previous contacts!!!  What's more exciting is: The tenant has requested to move in during the school holiday as she's a school teacher.  She intends to paint the whole house and fix the auto-gate on her own expenses.  See, I told you she's good right?

So, Andrew checked his schedule, made some adjustments and we went back to Subang for 2 weeks.  In between, children and I went back to Melaka for the weekend while Andrew attended a conference in PD for a couple of days.  So, what did we do in Subang?  We looked through every shelves, every drawers and every corner of the house.  This house has a history of 35 years + easily another 50 years of precious memories when my parents-in-law moved their parents' belonging over after their parents' passing.

My mom is so gracious.  Hearing that a huge task was before us, she voluntereed to help us out.  As for my children, they spent most of their time playing with each other whilst the adults were occupied.  How wonderful are they!  We also took some time off to visit a few family friends as we know that it would be months later for us to step foot and breathe the Subang air again.

A visit to Cassandra's house

Children enjoyed the company of this little one

Thank you, Cassandra, for your hospitality

Cookie welcomed me with her kiss

A visit to Vic Cern & Yieng Yin's new home

Didn't realise how big my boy has grown until he stood besides baby Faith

Showing off your muscle, young lady?

She must be wondering why this gor gor is so weird

Until today this guy is still boasting about how baby Faith allowed herself to be carried by him and not me

Ahem.... time to sharpen your camera skill, my dear hubby

Finally the two 'brothers' with the children

Special thanks to Grace for the lovely dinner.  We need to fast for a week to clear off our stomach for the sinful indulgence of a presumptious meal.

Not to forget Aunty Jeannie and Uncle Naden.  With only one-day-notice they managed to prepare wonderful gifts for the kids.

Surrounded by so many wonderful people, don't you think we are loved by many?

Kindy Concert

After months of practicing, finally the kindergarten year-end concert is here.  Erwyn has been rehearsing his dance move everyday at school.  He was so proud of it that at times, he also showed us some of the steps at home.  Every night, he made sure we prayed for him that he would dance well for the concert.  

Elyse, on the other hand, was very upset as this year, she’s in Standard One and her school does not organise such event.

Days before the concert, Erwyn kept reminding us to be there and takes photograph of him.  He also requested to video him but I declined as we would be buying the recording from the kindy.  

On the day itself, I reminded Erwyn to nap before the concert so that he does not feel tired and become cranky.  However, it took him almost half an hour to fall asleep.  Too excited, maybe?  The kindy required all children to reach around 1:30pm.  I managed to wake him up around 1:20pm.  Well, that’s the advantage of staying close-by.  

The acting principal, Gee Ee, is a member of my DG.  Prior to this, she has requested some of the members in the DG to help out at the concert and many of them showed up.  They assisted the young ones to change into their concert outfit, applied make-up to their angelic face and making sure that the children are well taken care of.

At 3pm, the graduation and concert begin.  The MC of the day is none other than Iris.  The hall was packed with enthusiastic parents.  The concert started off with the 4-year-old dance.  My little prince dressed up like a real gentleman with a bow tie.  How could I not fall in love with this little handsome prince?

The performance continued with the 5-year-old Hawaiian dance.  They were simply amazing!  I salute the teacher who trained these cuties.  There were more than 20 of them and yet their movement were well synchronised.  

The 6-year-old performance was a cow-boy dance.

Followed by the 3-year-old.

Then back to my darling again… this time let's do some rock-and-roll!

Honestly, I think my boy did the best in this dance.  Not that I am biased, but he actually remembered every move.  Thumbs up, boy boy!

The 5-yerar-old is back again with an extra instrument – sticks!  Again, they wow the crowd with their almost-perfect rhythm.

Now the 6-year-old with the Gangnam Dance. 

The concert concluded with all the children singing in unison.

A big thank-you to all the teachers/helpers/volunteers who made this event a success!

Church Anniversary Dinner

Phua Chu Kang is in town!!!

To celebrate the much anticipated event- of-the-year: 118^th Church Anniversary, the church has extended its warm welcome to this famous, hilarious, awesome actor/host/comedy performer – Gurmit Singh, or better known as Phua Chu Kang. 

A committee was formed and soon the church secured a booking at Kings’ Green Hotel for a 75-tables Chinese 8-course Dinner.  Tickets were sold out within the second week of the launching. 

Hubby requested to arrange for a dance performance at the dinner.  We started practising in June.  Initially I planned to have 20 tambourine dancers + flag bearers.  After viewing the hall and realised that the stage is quite small, I reduced to 10 pax.  

My stress level was on the rise as the Big Day drew near.  I was scheduled to worship lead the Sunday after the Anniversary Dinner.  Besides, I was supposed to sit for my exam that very week itself.  Preparing the song list for Sunday Worship, completing my assignment and project while studying for the exam – are only part of my near nervous breakdown.  Hubby then decided to test my limit by assigning me to design a brochure.  Thankfully, after hours of staring in front of the laptop, the brochure was done in time for printing; the assignment and project was completed, and I recently received my grade for the exam - with flying colours!!!  And the Sunday worship went well.  Phew!!!

The day has finally arrived!  One of my friends whom I invited for the dinner, See Kar, reached around noon and thankfully, Doreen was there to pick her up from the bus station and brought her to the HomeStay.  I re-scheduled the worship practise to the morning.  However, time was really not on my side.  After the practise, I had to rush home to cook for my two kiddos and then deliver it to the hotel as hubby was there with my girl to oversee that everything was in place.

Then, sent my princess to art class and drove over to meet See Kar and Doreen at Jonker Street.  Although they assured me that they understood my busy schedule and graciously told me not to rush over, I did not heed their advice.  :p  It was good to catch up even for that short one hour.  Went back home to wash up, got my kids ready, drove to the church to pack up all the flags and then finally, reached the hotel with my heart beating profusely.

I am so grateful to have my DG members, aka Siang Ling, Karen and Irene, to help me up with the make-up and hair-do for the dancers and flag bearers.  One of the dancers’ mom, Erny, was also there to assist that evening.  In fact, they reached the hotel earlier than me!  (*shy)  The reward is: They took a photo with Gurmit Singh even before the event commenced.

The early birds... exclusive photo with Gurmit Singh  (*jealous)

A special note of thanks to Susan for staying put at the hotel the whole day.  She was the first one to welcome Gurmit.  All of us were surprised by his early arrival.

Let the magic begins....

The dancers rehearsed a few rounds on the stage.  Though they were not perfect, they were awesome!  I am so glad to work with these incredible people for the past few months.  They have always tried their best and even took the extra mile to practice with extended hours.

Since it was still early, I took the opportunity to snap a few shots... hello, smile!

The 4 handsome flag bearers

The beautiful tambourine dancers

The majestic wings carriers

The girls...

Now, a group photo

My DG members

Soon, the hall was packed with people.  Elyse was eagerly waiting for See Kar and Doreen at the entrance while I rested at my table, munching some left over fries and sip a few mouth of coke.  At last, our guests of honor arrived and we continued to catch up with each other till the event started.  Bee Gek and her family arrived late as they were caught in heavy traffic jam.  Nevertheless, it was such a pleasure to meet her as the last time we met each other was 17 years ago!!! 

Buddies since secondary school

 

Simon led us in a time of worship followed by some video slides presentation.  The flag and tambourine dance was scheduled after the 2^nd dish.  The youth were nervously waiting for their call.  Karen, the MC for that evening, welcomed the youth with the sound of applause from the crowd.  They performed the routine without any mistakes.  It was such a joy to see the fruits of our labor finally accomplished.  I am proud to lead these precious ones through this journey.

The crowd waited patiently for the appearance of Gurmit Singh.  Our patience paid off as he made his entrance to the stage with jokes and songs.  Surprisingly, he sang extremely well!  And we had the honor to be the first to purchase his first debut album.  

The crowd went crazy as Gurmit walked around the hall posing for photographs.  He even played a silly game with a few gentlemen.  His transposed humor brought waves of laughter around the hall. 

The hall went silence as Gurmit shared with us his testimony on how God miraculously healed his mom and thus paved the way for his family to come to know God.  There’s a story behind every man.  Indeed, his life story allowed us to peek into his world where Christ and His grace are deeply embedded in his life.

The Dinner ended with the signing of his autograph for those who buy his album and a photograph session.  I was one of the last few to take a photo with him.   

My friends and I parted after the Dinner as I had a terrible headache.  I felt so guilty for being unable to accompany them back to the HomeStay.  Again, a big thank-you to Doreen for playing host.  

It was a beautiful evening, meeting up with beautiful people; watching a beautiful performance; listening to a beautiful story; having an encounter with a beautiful God.

p/s: And a beautiful ME!!!  :p