Merry Christmas

and a Happy New Year! The blog may go into hibernation until after the 1st week of January when exams end. Till then, write me letters and send me love songs!

As Christmas draws near

They say it's hard to be a Muslim these days. Sometimes I wonder that it's even harder to be a Christian.

Living in London, post London bombings and Heathrow bomb threats, everyone is very gingerly tip-toeing around any issue that might incite the wrath of the Muslims. Halal food, not shaking hands with the men, and headscarves are just a few, not to mention being careful not to represent the Prophet or God in any way.

However, what happened to Christian sensitivity? I know it sounds mad, but if truth be told, ignorance of Christianity is almost as wide spread as Islam.

This Thursday we're celebrating Christmas at Linstead by putting on a nativity play. I'm playing the part of one of the barn animals. One look at the script and I'm glad I have no lines. It's one thing to make things satirical and as far as everyone knows I am always sporting enough to laugh at myself and my beliefs. But it's difficult to know when to draw the line.

Should I feel bad about singing "While Shepherds smoke their pot by night?". Should I feel slightly insulted that Mary exclaims "Holy Shit" when told she is to give birth to the son of God? Should I be hopping mad that the moral of the nativity play is safe sex?

I don't actually know what I should be thinking or feeling. It has obviously irked me enough to write about it, but what exactly I am annoyed about I don't really know.

Perhaps it's just the idea that nothing is sacred anymore. That something so humbling as the joy in the birth of a baby can be misconstrued and spun into a tasteless story and the true joy of Christmas is no where to be found.

Non-halal turkeys for Christmas this year? Lucky chickens...

I was reading Jeff Ooi's post and the Bernama article on non-halal turkeys being imported for Christmas this year, while sipping my morning cappucino (chilled, mind you) and giggling to myself.

While I think it's wonderful that Jakim is being very considerate to allow the import of more turkey for Christmas and New Year (macam inilah masyarakat muhibbah!), my mother never buys turkey but orders a very fat chicken from the local wet market (cheaper, ok?) and serves it roasted - stuffings, chestnuts, cranberry sauce et al. I don't know whether the chicken is halal or not lah, but it's juicier than dry turkey!

There's one chicken who didn't get a lucky Christmas break.

It's never too early to start a Christmas wish list...

And yes, I've gotten over wanting Lychee scented ironing water, in case you were wondering.

It's come to that time of year again when I ponder laboriously over the perfect gift for my loved ones. (Xiaokai, that does not include you in case you were wondering)

So I go about my usual routine - walk up and down Oxford St/Regent St/Covent Garden/Sainsbury aisles... in the hope of finding something that will make the receiver gasp in awe at my wonderful gift selecting skills. Something tells me that isn't what 'giving from the heart' is about. *shrugs*

Now the problem with the perfect present is that is always costs way above what I can afford. And that's when I go snooping about eBay in the hopes of spotting a good bargain. But then my Scrooge-like attitude catches me off guard and I resign to the fact that I do not have the heart to give anyone a second hand present. With the exception of some presents I've received over the years which go into a recycling box and are picked up again and rewrapped when in desperate need of a last minute present. Don't look at me that way. You do it too!

Is there any point to me telling you this? Is there some anecdote from my daily life that I am going to share with you regarding Christmas presents? Nope, none at all.

Except that the Christmas displays on almost all the London high street shops too freaky and distorted for the Christmas spirit. What do mannequins that are dolled up like Marilyn Manson and his equally freaky gothic, burlesque queen wife Dita von Teese, have to do with that warm, fuzzy Yuletide feeling?

Merry Christmas and party on into the New Year!

I'm back in London and recovering from busting a big hole in my bank account with the unbelievable amount of shopping I've done. New York (and New Jersey where there are no taxes) has drained me of almost all my living expenses!

Do not judge me until the Harrods sales are on.

Will regale you with stories of Nine West shoes, frustrations of the New Yorks strikes and unbelievably stupid Americans later. Right now I've just gotta get my jetlag fixed.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas. And may it snow tomorrow. (Come on, just a little, pleeeease?)

Kumpulan Orang Biru, and other Christmas thoughts

It's been threatening to snow. But it hasn't yet. I've forgotten what it's like to have feeling in my ears. Thus all I would like to have for Christmas (and preferably before) is this - warm fluffy (and preferably pink) ear muffs!

Alternatively, I will also settle for:


Mini tabletop vacuums!
Available at Robert Dyas for only 4.99, and come in an assortment of cute animal shapes too. Personally I'd like a little pink pig. Wouldn't you?








Christmas presents aside, we spent last night watching the Blue Man Group, which is really hard to describe so go here and read about them. And you'd better not miss out on the videos! I really can't decide if the best part of the night was having to wear ponchos throughout the show (ah, memories of rainy Odac days) or getting teepeed by humongous rolls of toilet paper. If you've never tried swimming in a sea of toilet paper, go watch the Blue Man Group instead of buying more Kleenex!

Above on the left is just one of the three men in blue (MIB), and frankly I find anybody covered in a latex layer of thick (and still wet) blue paint to be rather creepy. But covering an audience member in blue paint, hanging him from his legs and swinging him face first onto a white canvas is surprisingly rather artistic. So are flourescent UV pipes!

Me, Lionel, Lu and Grace with The Band!

Chien Liq and his prized Blue Man saliva painting,
lovingly spat onto a blank canvas for him

And Matt, who got Blue Man-handled!

Illustrations...

The Christmas feeling is in the air. I know it, because Starbucks and their red cups are telling me so. It's just me and my Gingerbread Latte on this cold November evening. Mmmm, I've gotta fashion some Christmas deco for my room to make it a little more festive.

Christmas would be really nice if only I didn't have a mountain of courseworks blocking the view. Like right now.

I think Amar has the right idea though

Bob the Christmas tree has now been replaced with our new pet - Bob II 

On this day is born to you a Saviour... Gloria in Excelsis Deo

Christmas is getting quieter and quieter every year. As my cousins get married off, one by one... the festive cheer is dying down. And now, there aren't anymore Christmas eve gatherings. There's no one around.

So we had a lovely little Christmas dinner all to ourselves, prepared by the three of us. Then we put up the Christmas tree, opened presents and went to sleep.

This morning Daddy drove us to a little church in Sungai Buloh (because he said it would be nice to support little fledgling churches on Christmas day... and not get stuck in the massive hot, noisy and sweaty crowd at our usual churches). I suppose I survived the service with a few cynical thoughts running through my head. But that happens when I'm not in a Catholic church. And since it was Christmas, I told myself to shut up.

Got a christmas present from Greg - a surprise email this morning. Probably one of the better highlights of my day. Man, I still miss the way we used to talk about Christmas and church and everything...

Had the usual family lunch at my aunt's house. Albeit with a much smaller family. As I said before, no one is around. My nephew is adorable. There will be more of them tonight at my uncle's house. The little kids. Maybe I'll try to be nice for Christmas. But I only like the ones that don't scream...

I'm tired. Christmas isn't what it used to be. If I had a Christmas wish list... I'd want to have
1. Lionel with me and not anybody else for Christmas
2. Be back in cosy Emperor's Gate
3. Have Mum roast a huge chicken with stuffing and cranberry sauce for family dinner
4. All my cousins back for Christmas
5. My lost CD collection returned to me

Merry Christmas!

Now I know why people say Christmas is the loneliest time of the year...

After the tinsel stops glittering, and the lights stop blinking, and you begin to see past the fancy deco... you can really feel completely alone, especially when the only person you are used to depending on every day isn't here... but all the way in New York! Sometimes all it takes is one person to disappear from your daily life, and you cease the ability to function normally.

I can't wait for these 3 weeks to end...

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

Editorial Page, New York Sun, 1897


We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:


I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O'Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a sceptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus?Thank God he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!


From The People's Almanac, pp. 1358-9.


A very blessed Christmas to all... and keep the peace of the Christ child in your hearts.

And way up in the sky the North Star is shining... over the lowly manger where a babe is to be born... a mighty saviour in the form of an innocent Christ child. And man will live forever more, because of Christmas Day.

Christmas eve is always magical. As we light the candles and sprinkle them with lavender oil, and my sister sings 'Jolly Old St. Nicholas' out of tune (she's been singing it out of tune for the last 13 years... and she turns 14 next year), and we wait for mum's relatives to arrive and I wonder if they'll notice that I've had a haircut (no one ever does) and we've placed the last of the wrapped presents under the Christmas tree (as usual we've forgotten to put name tags, so we're going to have to play guessing games later) and the Johor Laksa is bubbling in the kitchen (no, no stuffed turkey... we celebrate Christmas the Malaysian way...) and mum still hasn't unveiled what other culinary treats she has prepared, and we've taken out the Christmas cutlery and table mats and napkins (made shiny only once a year) and Dad is blasting Christmas carols for the entire neighbourhood to hear (not that I've ever heard the neighbours complain be it Christmas carols or 'the Eagles on Tour') and everything is just Christmassy.

Just Christmassy!

Merry Christmas Eve!

5 Christmas Cards and counting...

It's such a warm fuzzy feeling to receive a Christmas Card... reminds you that you are loved or at least thought of! B-Landing Linsteadians have been decorating their doors with Christmas Cards. It's the cheapest Christmas decorations we can find. And its so lovely to read them because sometimes you can't believe the sender actually wrote them!
Take Farhad's for an example:
"Always keep that smile on your face because that smile on your face is the light in the window that tells people that you are at home"
9 times out of 10, Farhad is usually muttering something obscene or horny.
But I suppose the spirit of Christmas touches everybody... even foul mouthed bastards like Farhad.

Said the night wind to the little lamb
Do you see what I see?
Way up in the sky little lamb
Do you see what I see?
A star, a star
Dancing in the night
With a tail as big as a kite
With a tail as big as a kite...

Frosty winds are starting to blow, and soon we'll have snow (if we're really unlucky). All the shops are dressed up in gold and glitter and santa clauses and elves and gilded christmas trees and fairy lights... and the Christ child is forgotten. Last weekend my aunt and uncle drove me down to Croydon in the evening, down to the English suburbs... and in these usually quiet towns (well, anything is quiet compared to South Kensington where no one ever sleeps) we gaped at the immensely tacky and showy displays that the residents had put up. Santa Claus was climbing several windows. Rudolph was running across several roofs. Bright, shining, snowmen stood alone in the cold with big fake plastic smiles. Where one house had a grand display, his neighbour had a brighter and grander one! And my aunty said, "Where's the significance of Christ's birth in all this?". And then we passed a little church which had nothing but a simple lighted sillhouette of the nativity scene. The first sign of the true spirit of Christmas. Do you hear what I hear?

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy
Do you hear what I hear?
Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy
Do you hear what I hear?
A song, a song
High above the trees
With a voice as big as the sea
With a voice as big as the sea

Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king
Do you know what I know?
In your palace warm, mighty king
Do you know what I know?
A child, a child
Shivers in the cold
Let us bring him silver and gold
Let us bring him silver and gold

Said the kind to the people everywhere
Listen to what I say
Pray for peace, people everywhere
Listen to what I say
The Child, the Child
Sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light
He will bring us goodness and light