(End Dec 15) The last week of December 2015

Well, Christmas had come and gone...

 

 

this was the last Christmas party we attended - with papa's colleagues at Aunt Valerie's house. The two of you asked Aunt Celeste to take a photo of you hugging didi

 

on the second last day of the year...we headed to town to catch the Christmas décor before it was taken away...

 

this one won the mall the award of being the "best dressed mall"!

 

walked further down from Orchard Gateway towards Orchard Central, we did not catch this segment the other time we came, so it was delightful to have a chance to see them

 

jie jie liked this ballet theme

always fun to pose for photos at these picturesque spots

 

and jie jie could even go on one of the sleighs, wished they had added the reins

 

the stools were cleverly dressed up as presents

 

a present from Aunt A, a cool projector Mcqueen watch. Polo ralph top from Xiaoshu.

 

a pretty top from an unknown person, ha...and skirt from gan ma and shoes from ah ma

 

oooo the dazzling stage, how cool was that

 

Centrepoint had already donned on the Chinese New Year decorations! Gold coins, the money-minded jie jie gushed that she loved the coins

 

went to Toy r us first and tong asked to buy two more colour changers. Ah ma asked to pay as she owed him a present as she did not buy crocs for him. At first, tong wanted three, but decided he only needed two, as he had only two hands. Though mama suggested he could put them in the bag and pay later, he explained that he only needed two and should not waste money. ha

 

went to Little Planet...and lay didi on the grass carpet, what an ideal photo spot with didi in a cute green romper that exclaimed, "I'd rather be naked"...well it was jie and tong's favourite romper...they did have a sense of humour, delighting in such frivolous and silly nonsense

 

we collected didi's passport, wooo hooo, he was gonna travel around the world with us

 

orrrr, our very dashing didi

 

time to go off to look for papa, the ice palace was lit up, perfect for photos

 

spotted these ginormous shoes

 

and a dazzling lit up dance floor, and of course jie could not resist horsing around, pretending that she was at a disco

 

well...the year had ended...it felt like we had just celebrated Christmas not long ago, and it was the Christmas season again, and that rapidly passed and it was the eve. We had a quiet eve. went to the library in the day, wai po's house for dinner with er yi and family in the evening. Then back to our house for routine...Xun stayed up with papa to count down and squealed that she loved it and wanted to do so again for Chinese New Year. Didi stayed up till midnight too, amazingly, papa said he wanted to count down too.

 

It had been a very good year for us. When asked about the favourite moment of the year, xun initially prattled on about the indoor playgrounds and the fun...when mama revealed mine was when we had jun jun, xun and tong both agreed this got to be their best moment of the year too.

 

well...material riches may be wonderful, but nothing beat the wealth of love one experiences with loved ones, in the serenity of the night, knowing that God had gone ahead to prepare the year and that it would be even more glorious.

(26 Dec 15 Sat) Boxing Day at Eryi's

Saturday morning...we were still fresh from the gush of euphoria from yesterday's gift-opening...and we were going to Er Yi's house for the Lu Lu sisters' celebration!

 

 

put didi in this rocker while preparing stuff...given by Uncle Boon Chye for xun's first month and it had gone through tong, you you and now back to Jun. Ha, would be passed to er yi's girl and san yi's boy in future. papa declared this as the most value for money investment...orrrrr..thanks to Uncle Chye, one of mama's closest male pals

 

decided to do away with the physical birthday calendar and did up the digital one instead..opps, you's Chinese name was incorrect

 

the two of you always fought to sit with didi at the back of the car...I supposed you two really adored him

 

and trying to take more photos of didi..eh...but he did not have many expressions as yet

tong took this photo and didi surely looked so awfully chubby here

 

ha, he did frown frequently too, like his beloved gor gor

 

and tong waited quite a while for this sticking out tongue photo

 

ah ha, it was feasting and MJ time

 

er yi's house used to be minimalistic but now many colourful things had been added. Introducing the play corner...to the kids' delight

 

they were just roaming up and down the corridor with toys

 

while we feasted on pizzas and drumlets

 

orrr er yi and san yi prepared dumplings with peanut soup for us. interestingly, tong liked it! Not jie jie though.

 

did not have a tall tree here, just a cute tiny one on the TV console

 

the wall was decked with you you's craft, jie took a liking to this caterpillar which was fashioned out of a cardboard egg carton

 

you you had grown up and was able to join in the fun with the older ones. In fact, he had unlocked a new achievement level - being able to play with the two when er jie went to bathe. Initially, he was bawling outside the toilet, but san yi led him to wai gong (whom you you adored) and the next thing you knew, the trio were racing up and down the corridor on wheels

 

wished wai po was here. Xun missed her too. I really liked the colourful mini tang yuans.

 

the little ones kept pestering the adults to let them shuffle the tiles and throw the dice

 

jie jie brought her Christmas present here and got it up and working with the help of er yi zhang and san yi zhang. you you liked this ferris wheel too.hahaha

 

we had the evil santa game. Everyone was supposed to bring one new but not useful to oneself thing to regift. ha, but san yi even went out specially to buy gifts for the exchange and everyone brought really nice items

 

we drew MJ tiles to determine the order of who got to pick the gift first

 

it was er yi zhang and he chose the gift from San yi

 

nice, it was a neck pillow with a massager

 

san yi and her hubby bought two neck pillows and then san yi got back another neck pillow (a gift from xiaoyi)

 

papa chose the other neck pillow

 

er yi got a pink power bank (from uncle alston and er yi also gave away a power bank to san yi too, ha)

 

uncle alston got the pillow we brought, he claimed he liked it

 

mama got a vacuum flask from er yi, and xiaoyi, the last one to choose had to take the scratch map from us. San yi and san yi zhang loved the map so much that they wanted to trade both the floral neck pillow and power bank for the map. it was hilarious...and xiaoyi did agree and we were all happy recipients.

 

back to MJ...mama's heart warmed at this sight...there was completeness, the 4 sisters and their partners...well...we hoped uncle alston would treasure Xiao yi

 

while the kids washed up and played in the room

 

the 4 sisters...forgot to take a photo of the 4 men though

 

the 4 cheeky munchkins

 

who were having a whale of a time together

 

 

we celebrated san yi's BIG 30!

then the men resumed their game, the rest watched the drama serial together, even wai gong liked this show and always watched it with wai po

 

finally, at 10 plus, it was time to head home. It used to be the sisters would come to our house at potong pasir and stayed over night. Then when we had kids, they would come and stayed till the wee hours and went back to their own homes.

 

 

now our gatherings started at an increasingly earlier time, like lunch and we would linger till after dinner but all heading back before midnight...haha

 

I thanked God for our extended families all the time...what would we be without our families? at the end of the day, what was the most important thing in our lives? more money? A flourishing career? perhaps not...maybe just a simple meal with our loved ones...

 

back at home and the loony jie with that bunny hairband san yi gave. The two were having a tender moment on their bed, doing their routine

 

jie's bed was all cluttered with soft toys.

 

a selfie before we went to wash up...What a night...this was definitely absolutely the best Christmas celebration of the year. Xun asked me why I thought so, I replied because I loved my sisters the most of all.

 

27th Dec 15 sunday

 

 

papa took care of jun while mama napped a little

 

papa took care of jun while mama napped

 

saw on my FB my 5 yrs of friendship on FB with godma...hahaha

 

and the little tiny angelic xun

 

and a most comical video of xiaobiaogu and mama playing some games at the hotel room in New York 4 years ago

 

the kids went to the newly opened Downtown line with papa

 

cool, now we could go to further places with more ease

 

 

 

mama and the 3 musketeers would be painting the town red together!