Of Good Food And Better Company

Christmas Day was overflowing with splendiferous food, fantastic company and remarkable gifts. We are thankful for our friends who organised the wonderful parties with an overwhelming selection of delightful Christmas foods so that we could just sit back and enjoy chatting with other friends, leaving our kids in the marvelous company of other children.

We were out of the house by 9.30am on Christmas morning, with the Bees chosen their Christmas dresses (these days, they dictate their wardrobe selections!) and we headed for LP’s house for a gathering with their family and PF’s. We were greeted with a mind-boggling selection of toys from her 2 boys, Weiwen and Weidong. The Bees, with Eugene and Claire, went quite rampant with all the toys but eventually settling for the very reliable Playstation again - with the exception of Little Bee and Weidong, who felt more at home with soft toys and Playdoh. Even Hubby was ambling around their house, peering and fiddling with interest at some of their toys!

The adults indulged in some really scrumptious food – a lavish fusion of East and West! Dimsum delights coupled with juicy turkey, ham and sausages! Good food always tastes better with excellent conversation, and 6 of us adults had the pure indulgence of sitting civilly around the dining table, munching on all the goodies while the kids entertained themselves. As our children grow older, this is one of the luxuries that we parents get – to watch them build up social networks from afar, while maintaining a thin, invisible line to them, casting our watchful eyes once in a while, but knowing that they will be fine.

We adjourned to Jasper’s house for a second session of luxuriant Christmas feasting with a stunning array of incredibly rich foods – succulent turkey,luscious beef, delectable sausages and plenty of heady wine and sweet desserts! We were absolutely stuffed by mid afternoon! The kids had a hey day playing with Amanda’s toys and ravishing an endless supply of party food and snacks, much to the Bees’ delight! (I usually deprive them of junk food). Once again, the mothers had a great time exchanging notes on parenting, which was such a far cry from our conversations of yore when we used to gossip about clubbing and the latest fashions!

We came back in high spirits, replete with abundant food in our stomachs and mirthful memories in our minds. The Bees spent an exciting evening opening up lots of presents under the Christmas tree.

Silent Night

The best time of the year is here again. Glitzy Christmas decorations this year (of which I am no fan of). Magical triangular emblems of Christmas trees. Frantic yet cheery Christmas shopping. All the uplifting Christmas carols that pervaded our senses with exhilaration and joy. And more importantly, the sense that the year end is nigh, and it is time to wrap up and take stock of the year in retrospection.

Our little family had always been spending Christmas Eve in its true spirit - with warmth, intimacy, tranquillity and quiescent peace - and always with a simple yet hearty meal. 

This year, Hubby laid out the table in a cheerful, delightful setting and we set up the table with a modest meal of pasta, mushroom soup and a sparkling grape juice that Big Bee enjoyed tremendously (we told her she was drinking some sort of wine!). 

We had a wonderful time over dinner and looked forward to more Christmases to come.  

Random Craft: Santa Candy Jar

With December being a holiday month, I decided not to have any structured home learning, so that the kids (and me!!) could take a break. 

However, I still let them do some fun crafts, especially since I am on leave. This month's crafts revolve around the theme of Christmas and winter, which was a loose continuation from last month's weather theme. 

On Dec 11, when Big Bee was in class, I taught Little Bee to make a simple Santa craft with some assistance from me. When Big Bee came home, she presented this homemade craft as an early Christmas present to her jie-jie, much to Big Bee's surprise and happiness. 

This is a truly easy craft to make, with minimal materials and easy steps for little kids under 4. It took us only about 25 minutes to complete, and Little Bee was thrilled at her creation! 

Step 1:

Using red construction paper, create a conical hat (adults need to assist here), add glue to the relevant sections, and get the little kid to stick on cotton wool to resemble Santa's hat!

Step 2: 

Attach and stick the hat to a small empty jar. I prefer to leave the lid on, so that this craft can double as a cookie/candy jar for a more attractive Christmas present! 

Step 3: 

Apply glue in a U-shape to the perimeter of the jar so that the kid can stick on any amount of cotton wool, explaining to them that this is for Santa's beard. Little Bee put in lots of effort to make Santa's beard look full and robust! 

Step 4: 

Tada! Stick on Santa eyes (the eyeballs were drawn by Little Bee, hence the slightly dazed look on Santa!), nose and mouth - and voila! You have a neat little homemade present from a little kid!

Little Bee ho-ho-ho-ing away, pretending she is Santa! 

The Joy Of Staying Home

I had been on leave since Dec 10 as my mother went on holiday, followed by our own holiday. Only one word can describe being with my girls the whole day long - heavenly. 

Days are long and utopian, and filled with such luxuriant richness and beautiful lavishness to be able to witness for myself those little idiosyncracies of my Bees for 24 hours. Having no work stress also means I am a more tolerant mother, being able to endure their frequent rivalry and catfights a bit better, injecting more patience into parenting them - although I still feel like tearing my hair out when faced with a whole morning of complaints and petty quarrels! 

Fatigue will definitely exist when I have to pander to their multifarious needs constantly, but if fatigue is blended with happiness to be doing the things that matter most, our bodies become a lot more resilient and receptive. I hope my children grow old to understand that working is merely a means to an end for me, and that I really revel in the joys of parenting them! 

Dec 10 and 11 were also fun days for my cousins and me. Since Fio's mum and mine were out exploring the world, we decided to hang out together with Irene who happened to be on leave too! What fantastic timing! 

Val and Little Bee spent an idyllic morning on Dec 10 at my house while Big Bee was out for holiday classes, focusing their attention on pretend play. This time, they were owners of a restaurant, and were busy cooking and serving us! I hope they grow up to cook delicious dishes for us :) 

We then picked Big Bee up before adjourning to West Mall for a sinful but scrumptious lunch of KFC, with the kids gobbling down whipped potato and chicken pieces! Big Bee had regained her appetite, now that school was out - wolfing down 2 big chicken pieces and 2 bowls of whipped potato! I am very pleased to see her being so happy and carefree again. 

Val and Little Bee all ready to fetch Big Bee, who incidentally, is Val's idol for now :) 

The Bees continued to indulge in their favourite painting after Val had gone home...followed by an afternoon of relaxed play at Gong Gong's house. 

On Dec 11, we had a delightful dinner at my house, with homecooked beehoon and curry chicken, as well as yummy stingray, satays and satay beehoon that Eric so kindly bought. As the kids played, us 3 cousins sat around the table munching and gorging on the food, idly chatting away. Life felt great! 

Bubble play before dinner. The Bees went berserk when I gave them permission to dabble with bubbles, much to the shock of sensible Chloe and Val! 

Without planning, Chloe and Little Bee had the same colour combination! Together with similar hairstyles, don't you think they look like twin sisters?!

The Bees' bedroom was tranformed into a playroom! 

We cousins had a marvelous time, and I am sure the little ones enjoyed their bonding sessions with their cousins as well. In this era of small nuclear families, cousins are close family members akin to siblings, and I am really happy to see the Bees having an entire brood of extended cousins they can call family! 

冬至

My family has always been deeply traditional when coming to Chinese cultural rituals. My mother would painstakingly tell us the meaning behind different Chinese traditions and rituals, imbuing in me a deep respect for and strong affiliation with being a Chinese living in Singapore.

Yesterday, we celebrated a ritual that we had been commemorating since the roots of my memory - 冬至 (Dong Zhi).

Since time immemorial, I remember always looking forward to this day every year because I love eating Tangyuan, the traditional gourmet delight for many Chinese fromsouthern China. My mother would always remind my brother and I that we would be one year older and wiser after eating these Tangyuan, and we would devour bowls of these sweet orange-coloured delectation. This was also traditionally a time for families to get together, so I try not to miss any 冬至 with my family even after I was married.

Because of all these warm and fuzzy childhood memories, I am also trying to create similar mental frameworks for my children so that they have this memory structure of family life and Chinese culture. 

Big Bee now looks forward annually to this special day because, like me, she loves to eat Tangyuan. She also loves to make those delightful balls of glutinous rice, and we had been creating different shapes since she was 4. However, I chastised myself for notexplaining the meaning of this yearly ritual to her adequately. I shall do so today!

Getting their hands dirty and sticky when making the dough!

Little Bee is still increasing her awareness of the world around her, and this year, she was involved with her jie jie, Gong Gong, Popo and me in creating the Tangyuan dough as well as the different shapes, so she was chuckling in excitement all throughout. She also loves the sweetness of it, relishing each Tangyuan ball and slurping up the soup.

Some of the different shapes that we created

All ready to sink into a boiling pot of sweet soup with sugar and pandan leaves...

I hope to imbue them with the same fondness for family and cultural rituals, and we had an amazing time yesterday!

The final product :) 

Back From An Action-Packed Week!

The time they enjoyed most: Hong Kong Disneyland and having breakfast with Mickey!

We just arrived back home from our Hong Kong holiday - just Hubby, me and the Bees. It was Little Bee's first trip on an airplane, and this vivacious girl demonstrated strong signs of a potential jetsetter in future, feeling totally at home fiddling with the entertainment system onboard and claiming she did not feel any ear pressure with the ascent and descent of the aircraft. She did not particularly like holiday food though, so we ended up looking for her favourite chicken rice in Hong Kong a few times! 

Big Bee was at her very best behaviour, devouring the delicious Hong Kong food with zealous gusto. She was able to hold intelligent and mature conversations with Hubby and myself, and could help out with Little Bee at times, despite the frequent outbursts of fights that would make me feel like tearing my hair out! Most of all, her keen observations of a foreign land made us see things from her idealistic and fresh perspective, putting a revitalising and refreshing angle to our jaded viewpoints. She is truly enjoying to travel with us. 

It was extremely tiring with 2 hyperactive kids in crowded and dense Hong Kong, but Hubby and I revelled in spending uninterrupted and perpetual quality time with them! 

I will update with a more detailed holiday post soon.