Mojito

Hubby used to shake up cocktails in the evenings, as a way of winding down the day. Instead of pouring a glass of wine (which we love too), mixing the liquors with the right amoung of sour and sweet seemed a little bit more interesting. We continued this ritual after we had Kodi. We would sip cocktails (not every night though) after we put her down to bed. In fact, it became an even more important symbol that the busy day of work and parenting/child rearing was over. 

Cocktails disappeared after we moved to the tropical island. 

Recently, the cocktail shaker is out of the cupboard again because we had become unanimously disappointed by the quality and value of cocktails at dining venues across town. Hubby decided that the only way to have "authentic" not the water-down semi-juice like cocktails is to do it by yourself!   

We started out our all time favorite Margarita and now we are making Mojito! The sour and refreshing lime mixed with the grassy mint, balanced by the sweet aroma of Rum,  tickles your throat with the bubbly club soda. It's perfect in this hot weather.  We made a big pitcher of Mojito for our Christmas BBQ party and it was a hit among friends. The drink was gobbled down with the chips and salsa, literally in minutes! 

What should we mix next? 

The advent

The advent period toward Christmas has never been this much fun and hectic in my life. 

I grew up in a family where holidays are mostly about a big meal together, and a good spring cleaning beforehand.  There was some decoration but few. I somehow have been adept to this simple style of celebration and have not been a big fan of deck the tree, baking cookies, and not even buying gifts. For the ten years we have been together as a family, hubby and I rarely bought anything for each other for Christmas. We didn't feel like it's necessary and all the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping just seemed silly.  Call us anti-holiday people?  You may.

Things started to change last year when we celebrated our first tropical Christmas in Singapore. Kodi was completely hooked on the idea of Christmas trees and lights after the trip to Tokyo in November 2011. So we got a tree and wrapped presents for her to open on Christmas day. We did a Christmas Day brunch, tropical and monsoon season style, open air on a raining morning, in shorts and sandals.

This year the holiday temperature rises exponentially. 

We took out the Christmas tree on Deepavali day (Nov 13) because Kodi kept begging. I couldn't believe that we gave in because it wasn't even Thanksgiving yet. 

In late November, we started to work on lots of Christmas or winter-themed crafts, hand-made greeting cards, and played Christmas carols all day long. I even sewed an felt tree and made an advent calendar out of it.

We also hosted a Christmas BBQ party at our house, let the kids play bingo and cracker games and the adults did the white elephant gift exchange. Lots of cooking, planning, shopping, and of course, lots of laughter and fun.

We are going to another Christmas party this week, more cooking and gift exchange. 

I will have my sunday school kids do a shopping day this Sunday to spend the sticker points they have been collected during this fall. Lots of shopping.

I am going to Kodi's school next week to help them with a jingle bell craft. 

I am planning a family brunch where we can hear live caroling.

It has been a lot of fun during the advent period, in expecting the day of Jesus' return and his birthday. BUT BUT BUT it has also been exhausting because my brain is constantly filled with ideas that I'd like to do in preparation for the holiday. There are simply too many !!

For example, Kodi was in school at 9am this morning and I chatted with her new teachers for about 15 minutes. They had just moved to a new classroom with brand new teachers earlier this week. I was then off to Starbucks to get hubby the gift card and get myself a mocha while studying Japanese lessons. 

At 10:15am, I went to get a small gift for Sophia, the wonderful teen who has been helping in hubby's Sunday school class, at a stationary shop. Done! I stopped by Mark and Spencer to look for a toiletry bag for hubby but didn't fine any that suits him.

At 11am, I was shopping at Daiso, looking for materials for the jingle bell craft with Kodi's class. I also got some rolls of wide ribbons to make pretty bows. 

At 11:40am, I stopped by the newly opened Vietnamese eatery to pick up a sandwich for myself. 

At noon, I picked up the car and fought Orchard road traffic toward Bukit Timah. I munched on the sandwich while driving. Yum but super spicy! 

At 12:15pm, I pulled over the car by the curb, and jogged my way to pick up the holiday photos, parking coupons, and quick groceries. 

At 12:40pm, I picked up Kodi from school and finally the whirlwind morning of running errands was over!

A few minutes ago, Kodi just asked what we should do with the empty Cheerio box. Well... I said that maybe we could decorate it into a nice looking mailbox of our own to put in Christmas cards for each other. Yes, more crafting!

Gong gong 公公

My grandpa passed away six years ago. 

He is dearly missed although we don't often talk about this. Only grandmom does. I guess we don't really know how to express "missing" in a calm and sensible way?! 

I was very close to him since my childhood. I cried often and dreamed about him a lot in the first days and months after his passing. In the dream we did ordinary things we did as a family, eating, riding in the car, chatting, and he was with us. The dreams stopped after 6 months or so. Recently, I started to dream about him again. This time he is in my updated life.

He was a quiet man but a few things he said and taught me proved to be significant and I always keep them on my mind. 

He taught me always start from the bottom rack when unloading the dish washer. This is so that any residual water from the dishes on the top rack would not drip over to those at the bottom. 

He taught me to always organize the kitchen and put away the dry dishes before cooking. A not so common teaching from a grandpa, is it? In my mom's family, he (and now my uncle is) was the one who cleaned the kitchen.  It totally makes sense to start with a "blank" drawing board,  as cooking can be a bit messy and chaotic at times, at least in my kitchen, and you need to find the knives and spoons in their usual place.

He also taught me to put the kitchen towel under the choping board when slicing a water melon. "Otherwise, the juice will run down the board, over flow the countertop and drip down the floor." Isn't it true? 

Oh... how cutting a water melon reminds me so much of my dear grandpa. How I wish that he was saved by Jesus before passing so that I could see him again in heaven! This has become one of my most agonizing thoughts after I became a Christian. I pray that God will save the rest of my family everyday so we are not just an earthly family, and that our relationship will be eternal in Jesus Christ.