Christmas Joy

We didn’t have a lonely Christmas thanks to the generosity of church members who hosted “ open house” on the eve and on Christmas Day. Even the heavy rain on the eve did not dampen the Christmas spirit. As with open houses, there was lots of food and barbecued meat too so everyone had their fill.

Our grandchildren returned on Boxing Day. Their flight was
delayed so it was quite late when they reached home to be greeted
by a lovely Christmas tree with all the presents waiting underneath.

However they were too tired to open their presents
and kept that on hold for the next evening after their mum returned from work.

The joy of seeing what lies beneath the wrappings does not diminish with age. The children were just as excited looking for their gifts and handing ours to us.
Cookies and biscuits for their granddad and a labour of love in the form of sudukus painstakingly collected over a year and pasted into a book entitled “The Surprise” was a great gift much appreciated by him.
He dived into the book straightaway that evening.

I received a lovely purse from Japan where they had been for a short holiday for the snow,
an unusual luggage tag,
silky pyjamas and a set of embroidered towels.

This year we gave the grandchildren books as they are voracious readers. I also gave my daughter a book and was very pleased when she said that she had been wanting that book and was waiting to buy it the following month.
So she was delighted with her gift and her dad gave her a pretty hairclip which matched her clothes.

The giving of gifts is a traditional practice associated with Christmas and it is the spirit of giving and receiving that is more important than the gift itself. The sharing of the occasion imbued with “peace and goodwill to mankind” goes a long way to foster friendship and goodwill.

It is regrettable that Christians are still persecuted in some countries. Respect for one another’s religion and the right to practise one’s religion should be instilled into the young so that peace will prevail within and among nations. The message of Christmas is love and has always been. Those of us who can celebrate Christmas in joy and without fear are blessed and have much to be thankful for.

Forewarned is Forearmed

It's good to know the symptoms of a heart attack so that we can know if we're having one and we can also help others who may not know.
A well-known symptom is pain on the left arm. However, there can
also be intense pain on the chin or jaw as well as profuse sweating and feelings of nausea.
Sometimes there may be NO pain during a heart attack and many who had such a heart attack didn't wake up. It's usually the norm to have chest pains.
Once we recognise the symptoms of a heart attack we should
immediately place 2 crystal aspirins under the tongue where they will dissolve and we can swallw them with some water. These crystal aspirins work faster than the tablets so it's advisable to keep them handy.
After that, we should inform a family member or friend to get us to the hospital. Meanwhile we should NOT lie down but sit up and wait for help to arrive.
It's good to know that we can do something to help ourselves in such situations.

One Smile Makes Two

Making friends is not as difficult as some of us may think. I’ve heard some people say that it’s hard enough to begin a conversation with a stranger so how to make friends?

Usually it’s eye contact first and then a smile. Smiles can do wonders. They break whatever invisible barrier there may be and from that point on, it’s a “Hi” or “Hello” etc., etc. and the rest follows naturally.

This was what happened outside a doctor’s clinic. An elderly woman and a younger lady were standing outside waiting for the clinic to open when I walked up. They looked like mother and daughter. The older lady looked at me and I smiled at her. In return I got an answering smile and she asked if I were also there to see the doctor. From then on, we traded information on why we were there.

So it was a casual conversation but somehow it gave a nice feeling that people whom we don’t know are friendly once the barrier is down. Smiles are what bring down barriers and they are the seeds of friendship.

I would like to share this song which I was taught in elementary school. It goes to the tune of Auld Lang Syne.

A smile is such a funny thing
It wrinkles up your face
And when it’s gone
You’ll never find its secret hiding place.
But far more wonderful it is
To see what smiles can do
You smile at one, he smiles at you
And so one smile makes two.

I don’t know who the composer is but I think it’s beautiful and my teacher taught us this song, telling us to smile all the time so that we can make more friends. This is why I’ve never forgotten the lyrics, old as I am.

Smiles are like rainbows, always pretty to look at.

They make a person more approachable, right? The smiling
girls are my sisters.

Simple Pleasures

Each of us can draw our own rainbow. I remember my science teacher teaching us to remember the colors using this: VIBGYOR

V is for Violet, I is for Indigo, B is for Blue, G is for Green, Y is for Yellow, O is for Orange and R is for Red. The colors come in this spectrum.

It is interesting to think of our days as rainbow days. An important day would be a Red Day,like a red letter day.

My day today is Green as there is a feeling of peace and calm. I look at my potted plants and they give me this feeling. The different variety of foliage that I have potted all have their own beauty. Nothing in Nature is ugly. Even the weed has its own beauty. Look at the dandelion, an obnoxious weed to some but its flower is pretty and the weed has some medicinal value too.

To me, looking at my green plants gives me a great deal of pleasure, especially when I see those that have withered and dried up, perking up in new growth after loosening the soil and pushing in some surviving shoots. There is a resilience in these plants just as there is within us, a tenacity to live.

Breathing in the fragrance of the jasmine, which has started to bloom again, is another pleasure. The rainy weather has dampened the flowering and there are few buds but this morning, a shy little jasmine peeked out from the leaves surrounding it. Even the size of the blooms is affected.

Nevertheless it was a lovely surprise.

Just as the flowers need the sun to bloom well, so do our souls need some encouragement to open up and grow. So often we grow but without any real growth within us. Maybe looking on our days as rainbow days and coloring them as such can make a difference. Maybe we can help others to color their days too?

Celebration, Bonding, & Renewal of Old Friendships

After the tea ceremony in the afternoon, there was a small and cosy dinner in the evening for relatives and old friends, friends from school and college days.

I feel very blessed that my classmates
and college mates came to celebrate my son's wedding.

Most of us are grandparents and there are still avid golfers among us, myself included. Here is one of my golfing buddies, although we don't golf together now as we live in different states, separated by the South China Sea.
Relatives are my siblings and their children and grandchildren and my sole surviving aunt and her daughter. Since we have a big family, there are many of us, the young ones included.

Midway during the dinner there was a rousing "Yam Seng", the toast to the newly married couple. Guests and relatives toasted to their happiness and a fruitful, long-lasting marriage. In Chinese it goes something like this, "till they grow white-haired together".

The Tea Ceremony

Yesterday was a busy day as we got ready for the tea ceremony that would begin in the afternoon and later that evening, there would be a dinner for our Kuala Lumpur relatives and friends.

A visit to the hairdressing salon for the bride's hairdo and bridal makeup was scheduled in the morning. I myself had a wash and blow-dry as my hair is short. The young lady did a good job, using a lot of hairspray to make sure that my hair would stay in place. I decided that if the outcome wasn't good then I would resort to a wig! However it turned out fine.

The tea ceremony is the formal introduction of the bride into the groom's family.

The bride is dressed in traditional red bridal wear encrusted with beads and sequins.
The young couple offer tea to family members, beginning with the groom's parents and then family members followed by relatives. When the cup of tea is offered, the recipient has to finish drinking it as leaving some behind indicates that the person does not welcome the bride into the family. Not to accept it tantamounts to refusal to acknowledge the marriage.


After drinking the tea, the recipient gives the couple monetary gifts and jewellery. Here are some photographs of the tea ceremony.


Later the young ones in the family will offer tea to the bridal couple and in turn they receive red packets ( ang pao) containing money. The oldest single will offer tea in pecking order until the youngest's turn.


Meanwhile there are cakes and drinks to be partaken.

The Big Day Dawns

Today is the Big Day, not only for my son but also for us. My son Peter is getting married to Siew Min, a sweet lovely lass. Here is Peter trying to get a perfect bow tie and his sister Grace helps him.

We leave for church a short while later with Grace driving, using the GPS as she is not familiar with Singapore. Here are some photos of the wedding.









The "yum seng" or toast was really deafening as all guests toasted to the young couple's happiness. It was truly a great day for all of us, a lovely rainbow in our lives.
More on the tea ceremony in the next post....