Looking through these pictures of our Christmas celebration at home last year, it's kind of interesting that there're more pictures of our little Christmas tree as compared to previous years.
I don't know why.
Maybe the light that afternoon was good.
Maybe because Christmas trees have always had a significant place in our household and it always warms our heart when we see one.
And maybe because we remember the large tree that used to stand by the door.
Putting up the Christmas tree was always a big thing between The Parents and I.
Never mind that we had the same decor, and the same lights for years.
But then one day we decided it time to switch to a smaller tree and so got this one from Takashimaya's Christmas fair instead.
I fancy trees like these.
You can't really see it but there's decor of charming little ribbons, cute little gift boxes, and rich red apples.
We added the mini golden streamers and the colorful pail ourselves.
Christmas lunch this year was celebrated the same way we'd been doing for several years past.
I know how people like to say that you're supposed to have the creamed soups, the roast, the potatoes, the ham, even the salmon, the log cake, and the minced pies.
Maybe one day I'll buy back the little log cakes I once used to buy.
But these days we skip the fish and chips, the grilled chicken, the cocktail fruits and even the ice cream.
Instead we opt to have our favorite dishes bought up from the coffee shop downstairs.
And we opt to have things like frozen lor mai kais got from the supermarket that we throw into the rice cooker.
And siew mais- which are a long-term favorite of mine and so always have them at the table.
This year we decided to get some fried rice from the zichar stall downstairs, throwing in a couple of lettuce leaves, seafood wantons and hot dogs into the mix.
Then afterwards we had a bit of soup with tomatoes, lettuce, cuttlefish balls and more hot dogs thrown in.
And after our meal, for dessert, we chose to have little cups of vanilla ice cream together with familiar brown cups of coffee.
It's a simple meal.
It looks like a simple meal.
But not really so either.
Especially when I consider who it is I'm eating with more important than what it is being served at the table.