Lest I forget next year what I did this year. (note that the photos and the post are not related, caption provided below each photo in brackets)

(explanation : The parish priest in gold robe and a young couple symbolically brought the statue of baby Jesus and place the statue on the crib. They bow down in adoration. Contrary to what some people think, NO, we are not praying to deities or statues. We just love to do things with more symbolic stuffs. We also use incense in major celebration as it is meant to give fragrance. We acknowledge we are mere humans and doing something this way, sealed our belief deeper because we can see, do, take part and connect.)

The Christmas eve midnight mass was beautiful. But it started with chaotic traffic and church goers were put to the test. Some folks blared their horns non-stop due to the traffic jam leading to the church. Some got down from their cars and direct traffic. Some like me parked too far away and forgot which Jalan or Lintang my car was.

(My little boy posing in front of the crib at the altar. Some day I hope he will take the same photo of his children like this….)

Lucky my dear hubby took a bike and came to rescue me. Hehehe. Not really, he just came to church when our mass was ending to join us in celebrating. But if he didn’t come, I would be groping in the dark at 1 am in Island Park.

(explanation : My eldest sister bought a cake and my son cannot resist blowing candle. I asked him, “Whose birthday is it?” And the innocent one said, “Baby Jesus.”)

By the time I got to bed it was already 2 am and I woke at 7 am on Christmas morning. Yawnn…

Morning mass was serene and thank God our choir sang well. The most powerful message I received is “The best gift a parent can give to their children is the gift of faith.” So help me, God.

(explanation : My eldest sis still have some leftover tongyuen and we celebrated Chinese Christmas along with the real one.)

We had a family lunch, just our cosy little family.

And I prepared dinner for my siblings and nieces and nephews.

(my sisters, nieces and of course, my handsome loukong preparing smoke salmon and caviare with table water crackers)

This is the first time I celebrate Christmas with my own siblings (minus the in-laws ). And I realized something. My mother’s grandsons from each of her four children (out of five ‘cos my eldest bro only has a daughter) are Christians.

(A collage of the Chan family, minus my second brother who lives in KL. We joke that we are going to Hainan Island to balik kampung. Beware, the Hainanese typhoon is blowing. And I wonder what my mom fed me that she didn’t feed my two older sisters? They are so thin and I am so errm…tall?)

My two sisters’ respective eldest sons have been baptized. (welcome, Kah Weng)) Meanwhile, my second brother’s wife was converted to Christianity with her two children and I converted to Christianity with all my four sons. Now….Jesus must be very happy. Each of us turn to Christ at different times and due to different reasons. And no, none of us evangelize to each other, it happens naturally.

(actually, this photo doesn’t look as good as the taste of the cracker with cream cheese, camembert cheese, grape, smoked salmon and caviare)

(these are all the foods I prepared, you can find the close up in my best recipe food blog)

Phew….nite, nite I think this is the first time I got to sit down since the last post I made. It has been beautiful. Christmas gets better each year I become a Christian. Thank God for making me the chosen one.

My thoughts and prayers to all the family of the Tsunami victims. Today, 26th December 2007 is the third anniversary of the the huge tsunami that killed thousands of people in the region, including my island. May these families who lost their loved ones find strength in their respective faith to carry on living positively. And may the souls of the departed ones rest in peace. (my post in 2004 on the Tsunami) Amen.