December 26, 2008 · 2:31 am

Christmas 2008

So we were planning to have a X'mas party before I got hospitalised over the weekend. I had sent out facebook invitations and quite a few people had RSVPed. On top of that, Irene had ordered a 4.5 kg butterball turkey with another 2 kg ham and 1 kg roast beef. So we couldn't really cancel the party... That meant we had to organise our friends who had RSVPed to get their Secret Santa presents and also go get gifts for each of them. Although I had just gotten discharged on Sunday, I was determined to make sure we went with the plan and got everything that we had decided upon previously.

After a mad Monday where we did 7 hours worth of shopping, we got home with these things:

I'm sure some of you can recognise the gifts.

It was quite hard for us as I was still feeling so exhuasted, yet I really wanted to get the shopping done and out of the way. It was also important that we bought suitable gifts for all our guests, even the ones who said they "maybe attending". At some points while we were shopping, we had to stop and take breaks so I could rest and gather strength again. It didn't help that bloody Plaza Sing was filled with people who were also attempting to get their shopping done. I was glad when it was all over and we were home sweet home.

Of course we couldn't just give out presents without wrapping them... but I was so exhuasted after all the shopping that I really needed to sleep. We ended up wrapping the presents on Tuesday, the Eve of X'mas Eve instead. We were up til almost 4 am, wrapping up all the presents and also cleaning and packing the house in preparation for the party. Luckily for me, I had rested in bed for almost the entire day, so I could persevere with the wrapping. After wrapping the pressies, we placed them under the X'mas tree and it looked like this:

Yes, we had alot of colourful wrappers and there was a theme for the wrappings. I was definitely pleased with the final effect

I was so excited about the party that I got up just past 9 am on X'mas Eve and couldn't get back to sleep. Irene brought the ordered food back around 2:30 pm and we started to get everything ready. Edna came by and helped to rearrange the furniture and blending the mushrooms in the preparation of the wild mushroom soup. Eventually, we had the feast laid out:

Irene and I stuffing the turkey

The X'mas Feast: Roast Beef, Turkey, Ham, Salad, Herb Pasta and Wild Mushroom Soup

The food was pretty good, considering that we ordered it from Cold Storage. Their festive package even came with a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates (that we still haven't opened!) It was a thoroughly western style buffet meal and although it was the first time we had served food not cooked by either of us, I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

We had wanted our party to be an easy-going one, so we asked everyone to come as and when they liked. And they did! Some people came as early as 5 pm and others came as late as 11 pm. It was a real free and easy party and by the end of the night, we counted that around 25 people had attended our party which initially was meant to be a small "dinner/chillout" session for about 10-12 pax. We had the mahjong gang, the movies gang, the "I-am-hungry-watch-me-eat" gang, the "Little Nonya" gang, the Pictionary gang, the "Sit-in-the-kitchen-and-chat" gang and even a "Let's-stay-overnight" gang. Everyone did their own thing, at their own time and we even did a mini X'mas countdown twice! (Once in the living room, another time in the kitchen.)

The mahjong gang eventually sucumbed to "The Little Nonya" temptation and stopped playing mahjong to join the rest in watching that crazy TV drama instead.

Crazy people playing Twister... a game where MQ won eventually...

Everyone squashed in the living room while the Pictionary game was going on.

Us with the great Ice-cream Log Cake that Edna bought... Mmmhmm delicious!

Our tinny X'mas tree being overloaded with gifts after everyone had arrived.

All in all, the party was pretty successful and I was happy with how it turned out. Everyone seemed to have fun and they all left with their gifts in hand and huge smiles on their faces. We managed to clear a good portion of the food, including all the pasta, salad and soup. The remaining turkey was stripped down and refrigerated with the bones thrown into a pot for soup making while the rest of the roast beef and ham was packed into packets for sandwich making in the future. At some point after midnight, when most of the guests had left, we sat down with Edna, Alina, Yan, Enjiao and XiaoXuan to open our presents.

The wonderful presents I received this year... Thank you everyone

It was truly a great way to spend X'mas, surrounded by good food, great friends and building wonderful memories. I enjoyed the party so much I'm even thinking of making it an annual affair.

Merry X'mas Everyone!

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