Christmas....

Christmas Day had always been an elusive day for me. For many years now, I've not celebrated Christmas Day in any church as most of the time I made plans for family holiday. This year, as our family plans had gone haywire due to SYuen studies calendar, it was time to spent Christmas at home or probably a later holiday.

Earlier, SLing and I had laboured in our kitchen to prepare a good Christmas Eve dinner of roasted chicken, roasted beef , bacon infused salad and mushroom soup to accompany our family get-together. It was really nice to be able to be free to go shop with SLing, get our things together , get the ingredients, spent time together and just have fun as it is. It has been quite some time that we had not had such liberty to do what we've always liked to do because of my work commitments and so on. So, it was fun dishing out the dishes as it was going to be a great meal. Once, it was done, we were just so pumped out by the preparation and all that. We also shared this meal with Dinesh, Abby, Dinesh's mom and the children. It was a great night of food, fellowship and enjoying the night as it is.

Coming back to Christmas day, we headed out to our church that morning as usual. I hurried up to the Children Church to give them a hand at the Children's Christmas Party. There were quite a fair bit of children there and I saw Uncle Thomas setting up his hot dog table. Wow!Truly a blast of a party for sure!  I was told that he had prepared sausages and ice-cream float for the children on this occasion. Now, I am sure the children are going to enjoy the "party" alright! As the main service at the ground floor started, you could feel the atmosphere of festivity around you. It was a good festivity atmosphere while the Children Church Christmas Party decor liven up the hall upstairs. Young children were zigzagging and running across the room shouting their heads off and making noises as they whizzed passed me. Manning the registration counter were Charlene and David Lee. Each children was given a sticker with their names on it. There were many children that morning while the main sanctuary hall at the ground floor were filled to the brim with adults. 

The main service started off with praise & worship songs including classic Christmas carols. It was truly amazing to be in the spirit of Christmas while the Children Church also started off with Christmas carols led by Rebecca and Andrew. It was sweet to hear Christmas carols echoing the hall. Somehow, Christmas carols sung by adults and children do sound good indeed. Then David and Dinesh took over for the games and message for the day. Soon, the drama play written by Rebecca for this Christmas party was carried out and it was such a beautiful drama indeed.   

Then it was party time and food was the order of the day. Uncle Thomas churned out the hot dogs with great ease as mustard, tomato sauce, cabbage, cucumber and even saute onions were accompanying the hot dog and soft buns. I helped out the drinks section handing out root beer with ice-cream with my two happy-go-lucky mates, Yap S.K. and Jonathan Yip. It was a wonderfully hectic time and at the same time, the children were fed. Simple hot dog tasted so good when the company is right, right? Well, that's so true. I am thankful that I have spent some Christmas time with the children and the congregation at the ground floor. Everyone was in such a joyous mood and there was so much joy that morning.

I guess, spending time talking to friends and acquaintances on this joyous occasion was special. Young, old, mature,teenagers, youths, children and older folks just had a good time speaking to one another and shaking hands. Wouldn't the world be a better place if we could practised a little good like this each day to one another? Shouldn't we replace mistrust, racism, segregation, intolerance and general hateful with some good cheer on this special festive season? Why can't we replace all this with God's love, peace and joy.....in that way, our lives with one another in this diverse country of ours would be fruitful and respectful.

I am appalled that there are a small fraction of people in this country who still spread hate, racism, lies, disharmony and discord amongst the people today. I am also appalled at those who are in our higher offices who will still oppressed, look down or even bear arrogance towards the working staff. I pray that as we all remember this joyous occasion for it is a day of rejoicing and a day of lifelong hope ahead. Be of good cheer. Be understanding and most important of all , have a heart - It's Christmas, a day of hope, peace, love and joy....

Merry Christmas , everyone......