Christmas

Merry Christmas one and all (; Here’s a deviation from my other posts: there’s nothing much to reflect on for this post – just a pure log of what I did for Christmas this year.

Having gone for Christmas service on Friday and Saturday, I had the rare opportunity of having Christmas Day totally free from any scheduled activities. I figured the best present I could give Dad this year was to offer to go attend service with him in his church, to which he was pleasantly surprised and delighted. It must have been 5-6 years ago since I last did that. Little did I know it impacted me as much as it did for him.

I climbed out of bed early in the morning and went for breakfast with him at Chinatown. Bedtime stories often painted a white Christmas, where children wake to falling snowflakes and the smell of roast turkey. But dude, that’s for the northern hemisphere folks – I wonder why there aren’t any southern hemispheric authors, or better still equatorial ones who paint a more realistic picture of Christmas? Christmas breakfast in Singapore today was a hearty bowl of laksa, with a side of puttu mayam and fried sweet potato balls. There’s a taste that surpasses the taste of the finest cuisine – it’s the taste of childhood.

Stepping into my childhood church where I spent 7 years of my life, there was an immediate sense of connection. Everything has changed, but nothing much in fact. I took a seat in the middle of the hall near the front, pretty good view I must say, since no one really liked to sit in the front here – nothing’s changed as you can see. We sang hymns of old, some so familiar I could recite from my childhood memory. And Silent Night often get me all teary-eyed as it was my mum’s favourite song. We came as a family every Christmas Eve, to offer up worship to the baby Lord Jesus, and sang with all that was within our hearts, especially when it came to Silent Night. Every Christmas since Mum passed on has been bittersweet, with me fighting back tears while members ask to take photos on candlelight services. The memories of a family, the memories of Mum are something that will stick for a long time to come. 

I told myself I won’t cry today, and I kinda got through worship fine. Then came the Christmas drama video. A tale of a dad facing parental challenges of raising a teenage kid – her mum has passed on due to cancer. Wow thanks. I think this newcomer cried more than all the regulars combined today. Yet the video reminded me that Mum was watching over our family from above, from somewhere better. A place without pain, a place with Jesus. I turned over to Dad, and in between the tears, he and I offered a prayer up to God, asking Him to take care of Mum in a place where we could not. 

After church and visiting Grandma for lunch, we visited Mum’s niche. Merry Christmas Mummy. I heard the words Dad spoke to her. That he loved her. It came as a pleasant surprise. And also as a slap in my heart – I had assumed he had forgotten. Inside, I rebuked myself for ever thinking this way. As I glanced at him from the corner of my eyes, I saw the wrinkles on his face, and the tears swelling up in his eyes, and I knew. I knew he had not forgotten. And I knew it has been a rough many years for him. I knew I could not let him spend Christmas alone any longer. And I knew that Christmas was all about family. And about coming home. Home is where Love is.

Other pics from today. Family rocks (;

How did you spend your Christmas today?

Merry Christmas, my dear friends.