Christmas, visitors and shopping

Christmas Day

Early on Christmas morning, I drove to the airport to pick my father-in-law and sister who had flown in from Singapore. When we arrived home, they were literally like Santa Claus, handing out presents and lots of goodies. One of them was of course the long-awaited camera! It looks great, captures fantastic close-ups and my, the zoom! But I've yet to play around with it as *ahem*, I'd been out shopping with my sis.

We spent our first X'mas here in 2005 and there wasn't much atmosphere or mood then. We went to mass and were invited to a fellow churchgoer's home or should I say mansion for tea. Her daughter has a son who's the same age as Lavigne and we would chat with each other. There was a very big Christmas tree in the house which must have been about 2 storey tall? It was there that we met the supermodel, Rachel Hunter. I remember I was really star-strucked and couldn't believe being in the same room as her. Later on, I found out that this family is pretty famous. That was how we spent our Christmas.

This year I was determined to have a proper Christmas celebration and decked the house with decorations. Adrian's brother and his girlfriend came to visit us not long after we arrived back from the airport. I didn't know they were coming and didn't prepare any lunch. We were going for a party at 3pm so had only planned to have some sandwich. In the end, we decided to order some takeaway without realising that all shops and I mean ALL including McDonald's were closed. Adrian commented that in Singapore during Chinese New Year, at least some foodstores like the Malay and Indian ones will be opened. So what did we have in the end? Instant noodles. On Christmas Day. I was so paiseh. Oh well, at least now we know.

The Christmas party at Louisa's classmate's house was postponed to 5pm. There, we met more Singaporeans and were stuffed with food. I was almost full after the starter. The food spread was HUGE! I think there were about 8 types of desserts? My poor sis was jetlagged and kept dozing off at the party.

Boxing Day

Louisa was very eager to open her presents and I let her open a few as we were going out. I had arranged with Val and family and Emily and hub to go to Bluewater (a huge mall) for the Boxing Day sale. Louisa hates shopping and she stayed home. My brother-in-law's girlfriend went with us and we spent a total of 7hours!! there. The first shop I hit was Monsoon kids to get dresses for my sister-in-law's wedding next summer. So glad the girls have their dresses now. My sis had a good haul too. It's a great time for her to shop because of the currency exchange rate.

More shopping

We went shopping today again and Louisa came along. Next started its sale early this morning (no I didn't go at 4.30am when the store opened) as I wanted to get some stuff for the girls. There were so many tops but what about the bottoms? I couldn't find any nice skirts or jeans. At the end of our shopping trip, my sis declared UK as a fantastic place to shop. Yes, it is now but not before when the exchange rate was £1 to S$3.

I love the above which my sister-in-law got for me from Japan. Thanks Von!

My first Anna Sui products from my dear sis, Jean! Have always loved the packaging and am so happy to finally own not 1 but 2! Jun, the colour of the lipgloss is fab!

Testing the close-up.

Thanks for all your presents, my mother-in-law, cousin from HK, my youngest sis and SAGGS just to name a few. I've yet to sort them out and take pictures. The past few days had been a whirlwind. So please pardon me if I didn't name you, you're not forgotten.

I should have known better! My tummy is in agony now because I drank a cup of Mocha at Marks and Spencer's cafe this afternoon. I look like I'm 5 months pregnant and I feel sick. Ok, time to hit the sack.

Hope you had a lovely Christmas!

Arrived

It's here! I declare it my new favourite cookbook until perhaps when I get this. I'm so eager to try out the recipes.

Not so cold anymore

Looks like my hope of a white Christmas this year is going to be dashed. From a very cold past few weeks, the temperature is climbing steadily these days.

Christmas Performances 2008

Both girls had their X'mas performances today - one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Lavigne, who had been singing the songs to me, refused to open her mouthwhilst on stage. Luckily she wasn't the only one. I gestured to her to sing but she just shook her head and had this grumpy look. After the performance, I had a hard time taking a good picture of her as she kept hiding behind her friends and refused to smile for me.

Louisa, on the other hand, did really well. She'd missed previous years' plays at her old school as we had gone back to Singapore before the term ended. This year, she had 2 parts to play - one as a guest and the other as one of the 3 Wise Men. Her costume was really nice and no, I didn't make it.

Hear ye, hear ye!

Today, we attended Luke's pirate theme birthday party in London. Louisa and Lavigne, being girly girls, prefer to dress up pretty but I was glad they agreed to wear what I had prepared for them - pants and blouses. I had promised them they could change into dresses and tights when we go to Luke's house for lunch after the party and packed a bag of their clothes (which they had forgotten about). To my surprise, Lavigne agreed to have her face painted but not Louisa. She wanted to look like a 'girl pirate' and not 'boy pirate' with the moustache and all but I had no idea how to do it. So in the end, she went there clean faced.

After the party, we had yummy Japanese curry rice at Val's (the party venue was a mere 5min away) and oh-so-sinful but delightful cheesecakes. I discovered a really tasty Japanese salad dressing and a cookbook at her place. Am going to order the latter from Amazon soon as a Christmas present for myself. Haha!

I'm surprised my camera worked well today. Maybe it knows it will be replaced very soon as my new camera is waiting for me in Singapore. Yay! Can't wait to get hold of it.

Christmas tree 2008

How does your tree look like? Please leave a link under comment, thank you!

Star Strucked

Len Goodman from 'Strictly Come Dancing' (a very popular dancing competition) came to our local Waterstone to sign his new book. Our family loves watching the show every weekend so I took the girls to 'meet' the man. We braved the cold and arrived at the store 5min before the autograph session was due to start. I had thought there must be a long queue outside the store but I was wrong. There was a queue alright (in the store) but not as long as I had imagined. The plan was to wait near his table, snap some pictures and home we go. But Adrian who was studying at the library came to meet us and bought Louisa the 'Strictly Annual' for him to sign. She must be very pleased because I had not agreed to buy her his book just so she could 'talk to him while he autographs'. Mind you the book cost close to £20 and neither Adrian nor I are interested to read his autobiography. Good thing there's the other one which cost less and more interesting with lots of pictures. Even Lavigne liked the book. When she came face to face with him, she didn't say a word!

The weather's been getting really cold. Age must be catching up with me, I find it harder to bear with the frosty air. In the mornings, I have to scrap the layer of ice from the windscreen and windows. A pain if I'm in a hurry. I can't understand why some mothers are still sending their children into school in short-sleeve Ts and summery clothes at this time of the year. I struggle to keep warm and yet these children seem unaffected. I know children's temperature is slightly higher but it's almost 0 degrees. For me, it'll be nice to just snuggle under my comfy thick duvet all day long in this weather. It's just wishful thinking on my part. With work, household chores and children to look after, that is of course out of the question.

Are you ready for Christmas?

This will be our second time spending Christmas away from Singapore. The first time was our first year here. I'm going to miss the decorations at Orchard Road. We bought our Christmas tree today, er technically yesterday because it's past 12am already! It's 7ft tall and at a good price too. So the whole family set up the tree (no decorations yet) after dinner. Louisa was so excited. Adrian put the tree together and the rest of us spread open the branches. We really like the tree. Unfortunately, I only bought one set of lights and it wasn't enough to go round the tree. So I've got to get more. Since the tree is quite big, I had to find a strategic spot to place it which resulted in me shifting some furniture about. The girls will help to decorate the tree when they get back from school later in the day. I can't wait to see the end product.

Have you bought all your presents and sent out the Christmas cards? I have not. One of my colleagues finished her Christmas shopping like 2 months ago and kept them up in the loft. Very efficient I have to say. We'll be spending Christmas at one of Louisa's classmate's home. Poor Adrian. I don't think he's going to enjoy the season much as he'll be having his exams early January. There's a likelihood of a white Christmas this year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.