Countdown to Christmas

"Christmas is coming .. the goose is getting fat .. please put a penny in the old man's hat .. "

Christmas is less than a week away and I'm getting excited about coming home for a week.  I braved the malls yesterday and today to do my Christmas shopping.  I managed to stay within my budget and got the things I needed.

I am most looking forward to the dinner at my sister's place on Christmas day.  Even though my family is pretty traditional Chinese, Christmas is an excuse for us to get together and celebrate "gwai lo" style.  :)  Justine (aka "dai ga") usually hosts the dinner.  Dinner consists of turkey, a couple of vegetables, and scallop potatoes with a twist - the twist being that dai ga sometimes doesn't have all the ingredients and has to substitute with other things.  Haha .. it still turns out pretty good though.  We also chip in with other dishes.  I will be bringing the cranberry sauce and stuffing!

The dinners are by no means perfect and that's the way it's supposed to be.  We are there mainly for each other's company.  We reminsce about our past Christmases, our hilarious cooking mistakes and adventures, and what we hope to do for Christmas next year.

I'll be driving home on Friday afternoon.  I'm gonna make it home for dinner.  I promise.

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Christopher Leadership Graduation

Tonight was graduation night for my Christopher Leadership course.  It's a 10 week course that teaches leadership skills through public speaking.  For the first few weeks, I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue.  I kept wanting to drop out.  But I stayed and every week, I learned something new.  It has helped me tremendously.  Each week, there was a new theme to the class.  Courage, open-ness, unique-ness, love and community, enthusiasm, positive thinking, etc.

I struggled during the first few weeks but as the weeks went on, I got better and better.  At the graduation dinner tonight, each student had to do a final speech.  The requirement was that it had to be upbeat and positive.  In the past, my speech topics have included cooking seafood, the headaches of building a new home, and sharing french fries.  My final speech was on Justin Bieber.  I was worried that my peers would not know who Justin Bieber was - I asked one of the younger girls in the class whether they knew who Justin Bieber was and she said no.  At that point, I thought my speech was going to bomb.

When it was my turn to stand up and talk, I gave the best speech I've given so far.  There was no nervousness and I remembered everything that I wanted to say.  Several of my classmates told me that they thought I had the best speech of the night.  It was positive, upbeat, and the audience got a good laugh at it.  Who knew that a speech on Justin Bieber would have been my best speech.  :)

I can't wait for the second course.

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Tis' the season of Christmas parties

Tonight, I attended a Ladies Only Christmas party at a local Italian restaurant - Ciccio's Cafe.  I missed last year's party due to personal reasons but this year, my friends made sure I attended.  The service at the restaurant was mediocre.  It took a long time for our food to arrive.  I ordered a lasagna and I ate the entire portion because I was starving by the time it arrived.  It was good but when you're hungry, cardboard tastes good.

The best part of the night was the "chinese gift exchange".  I don't know why they call it a chinese gift exchange.  There were 15 of us participating in this gift exchange.  I got to pick last!  Yes!!  :)  So in the end, I took my friend Roslyn's hot chocolate bundle.  There were two packages in this gift - one was a big mug with cookies and tea, the other was a pitcher/bodum in one with chocolate and hot chocolate packs.  I really liked the mug since I don't have very many at home.

I love these kinds of gift exchanges - there were so many different gifts that it was hard to pick what to take.  At first, I was eyeing this bath product set but I wasn't too crazy about the scent - olive oil.  So I went for my next favorite thing - hot chocolate and mug.

In the end, Roslyn got the gift I brought - a bottle of chardonnay.  I'm the wine girl of the group.  If there's a party/gathering, I bring the wine.  I hope she likes it .. it was a Sterling chardonnay.  :)

On Thursday, I will be attending my Christopher Leadership dinner.  It's graduation night.  I have to make a two minute speech about something happy and upbeat.  My best speech was on french fries - yes, I actually did a speech on my favorite food group.  :)

I really have to start thinking about Christmas presents too.  This year, we said gifts for the kids only.  But we'll see.  I still might get my sisters something small.  They have helped me through this difficult year.

Oh .. I will be in town from December 24th to January 3rd.  I'm hoping to see everyone again.  (Ka, are you still doing the annual tradition of Pizza Hut buffet on December 24th?  :))  I may also want to do some power shopping while I'm in town.

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