::Traditionally a time for tradition::
Aaah. It's that time of the year again. Christmas. Time to dust off old family traditions [and our xmas deco for the hse] and celebrate with family and friends.

Christmas has always been a very big time for my family. I guess we've kinda been the party hse for a very long time. Since before I was born, Christmas dinner has always something that has been held annually at my hse. I'm telling you, for me, it wouldn't be Christmas until I see the tables set up inside my house.

Tradition is not all that bad as many people proclaim it to be. Tradition invokes a real sense of nostalgia that is irreplaceable. For instance, I remember how every year we would go over to the sisters' hse in katong to pick up the Christmas pudding. FYI, the sister's are these Irish nuns that my grandmother knew frm when she was at KC. And they would make Christmas pudding for us every year without fail. I remember going over to pick it up was always a big deal. When we got there, we'd always get fussed over and sister Josephine would always find something to give us. I can still remember the hse very well and the huge garden [and the dogs and the pancakes she made for us one year and the red saga seeds]. And now that they've gone back to Ireland and my grandma to somewhere even better, I really miss those days. We've tried making the pudding ourselves and even bought a pudding once frm the supermarket, but seriously, nothing can match sister Josephine's pudding.

There's also Christmas breakfast. Every year, Uncle Richard and family would come over and we'd all have breakfast together. Sausages, bacon, ham. Stuff that you could get all year round but somehow is more special this time of year. And it was also the time when grandpa would make cocoa for us. It was something special that we always looked forward to. He'd never make cocoa any other time of year cept Christmas and that made it into something of a Christmas treat. Even though I could probably make my own now whenever I want, I don't. It sounds like such a small thing but it really feels different when grandpa makes cocoa for Christmas breakfast.

But by far my favourite Christmas tradition is Christmas dinner at my house. It's not so much abt the food [okay, so what if it is?] but it's about being with family. I meet these people constantly throughout the year but somehow it's different on Christmas cuz we'll all be around one table and we're all there together. Sounds corny, but it really gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. It was also the one time of the year that grandma used to be able to say grace before the meal and I'm pretty sure she actually enjoyed that. It's the third Christmas that we'll spend without her and I'll never get used to not having her around to say grace.

To me, that's what makes Christmas Christmas. I can safely say without any smudge on my conscience that it's not about the presents or the pretty lighting downtown or even the wonderful food that will be on the table at Christmas dinner. It's about the time well spent with family. I'm sure that after a few years you won't even remember what was on the table at dinner but you'd remember how someone vomited blue, or singing carols together, or the year that we poured too much brandy on the pudding and everyone was happy.

Christmas is a happy time. Both in the religious and the modern aspect of the holiday. So cheers to happy memories and to many happy ones to come.