Momento

My Favorite Things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

~ Julie Andrews, The Sound of Music

This song has been ringing in my head ever since I heard it on the radio the other day. It always reminds me of a white English winter wonderland, and how Christmas has been, is, and always will be, one of my favorite things.

Things may have sped up in Orchard Road, but in my office and in my mind, the year-end slows down considerably, creating opportunities for pensive modes, particularly in the silence of the night.

Christmas in recent years has been bittersweet for me. Over the years I find myself losing part of the memories of the past. Memories of childhood, memories of people. But history leaves a few momentos. Momentos that drive a stake into the cortex of our memories. Momentos that remind.

I love the lights of Christmas, and especially so when 9000 candles light up Expo Hall 8 in the still and darkness of the night in one of our candlelight services. I love singing Silent Night, because just like The Sound of Music, it is one of the those things that remind me of my mum, for these are a few of her favorite things.

Christmas eves in my childhood were spent at midnight services in church, where we gathered to sing hymns and carols, standing behind rows and rows of red velvety seats, amongst people whose names I could hardly remember. But I remember. I remember the candles passing. I remember the Holy Communion taken. I remember how our family would sing the Christmas carols in high spirits. And how the whole hall would fall to a hush, as the organ played Silent Night. I remember how we would go home together in a cab. I remember how I look forward to mum cooking a Western supper of eggs and bacon. I remember how we would open the presents underneath the big ol’ Christmas tree. I remember the joys of being a kid. I remember when going Malaysia was the biggest thing. I remember when a mere egg can make me happy. I remember when we have little but our hearts were full. I remember those daily walks my whole family would take after dinner. I remember feeding the stray dog by the station. I remember how we would nurse injured mynahs. I remember how my mum hates cats. I remember watching WWF on Saturday evenings, while waiting for mum’s western dinner of pizza, pasta or steak. I remember how I would receive 20 cents for every “A” I got in my assignments. 50 cents for every star in my tests. I remember how mum tutored me. I remember her voice when I told her my PSLE results. I remember how proud she was when I topped my school. I remember how it was, to love and be loved in return. I remember.

A dear friend once told me that memories were meant to be celebrated, not languished over. So right now I am cherishing the memories of the past, and creating new ones with new people in the present, to lay down a stake for the future.

So my friends, what memories are you creating today? What would you remember when you look back in ten years’ time? What momentos are you leaving behind?

Create memories that last.

Happy Birthday Mummy.