The Perfect Christmas
The Christmas break has been really good. All the days of feeling harrassed while shopping for gifts while jostling through crowds of people, and frantic writing of last-minute Christmas cards totally paid off when I gave my friends their presents and received sms-es from others telling me they had gotten my card (I suspect some are still in the mail... I was quite late). Haha...
Went to church on Christmas morning with my family and it felt really very nice and peaceful. And I felt very thankful and blessed to be alive and healthy and loved. Thought and prayed about the Christians in Indonesia who can't go to church on Christmas morning for fears of another religiously-motivated attack on their church. I don't know why that suddenly came to my mind. As I stepped out of the church sanctuary after the service and heard the church bells ringing, I felt this sense of inexplicable joy - similar to the feeling I imagine a child would have if he'd woken up one morning and discovered that it was snowing outside. God is so good!
Spent the afternoon working on a Christmas present (which I sadly didn't finish, and no, it is NOT a teddy bear!)... then met celtic_cross to head down together to two parties we were supposed to attend. Ended up shuttling to and fro between the two venues throughout the night (fortunately they were almost right next to each other), but it was nice all the same, and the company was great. At the first party, we entered what must have been every couple's ideal - a cosy apartment of their own, slightly outside of town, with nice, simple decor... personal photos on the shelves, small dining table just nice for two people, and above all, a place they can truly call "home". Sweet. I hope that for myself someday.
At the second party, met up with J & D, menglang , triphopper , Jedi & T... and we exchanged gifts and had a few drinks and played this really great game called Taboo (which everyone should go play if they haven't tried it before). Actually, I think it was not so much the things we did or the games we played, but rather, the company which made all the difference. This is the very first year that I've not spent Christmas Night with my family, eating at home and probably watching some holiday movie being screened on tv. Instead, I found myself surrounded by people that I've grown close to over the years; people that I truly care about; people that I am proud to call my friends. Also, for only the second time in my life, I celebrated Christmas with someone who is becoming very special to me. This is exactly how I imagined my perfect Christmas would be like.
Thanks to everyone who has made 2004 a memorable year - both old friends and new ones... and Merry Christmas to all friends reeading this LJ.
I think 2005 is going to be an awesome year. Heh