the day that i have waited so long for, that i have romanticized in my mind - is over.

i'd have to say things didn't go like i'd like it to - snow, 'chestnuts roasting over an open fire', carollers and making my own cranberry sauce. i suppose we've all been given this romantic image of christmas but i just completely lap it up even though Singapore will never snow, and i don't even like eating chestnuts. and there was no ice-skating either because we ended up baking cookies, which is i guess, quite a christmassy thing to do [?].

there i go again, forgetting the real meaning of christmas and sugar coating it with commercialism that has been injected in us since we were kids. but i didn't get that warm fuzzy feeling either. everyone was more or less grumpy and hence so was i. the great thing about christmas this year though, was spending some of the day at bea's baptism. and hey, this year is great because we're really celebrating a lot of christmas even after it's 'over'. or at least i will be.

i really like midnight mass. there's something about attending the church late at night with the crowds - the darker it is, the brighter the lights are. fr yim, the hong kong gangster i do not know, is leaving for st igs according to my brother. but seeing as my brother spends his time in church idling or day-dreaming i don't see how i can believe that. he will be missed. this year's mass was special because it sort of signified a new beginning for me, in many ways.

alright, i'm done romanticizing.

i'd have to say the best 'material' gift i received this year was just a simple card, from a friend far away. it really made my day, more or less. of course the next best thing was Gabriel Garcia Marquez's memoir. you know, it's kind of amazing, how all the gifts are saved up till christmas day and then opened, whereas for birthdays, it's ok to open them early. the underlying meaning of letting all this joy and anticipation accumulate into one day of the year - and then watching it end. it sure feels anti-climax. especially when it ended while i was watching under the tuscan sun with my parents - which is, in my opinion, a very poor sort of movie.

but i'm going to do something different this year; i'm going to let the happiness and festive joy last as long as it can, which, frankly, should be forever because the birth of Christ is not something that should only be celebrated on one day.

+ posted by M @ 12:44 PM