HO HO HO! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Hi lovely readers!

Sorry I’ve been away. No specific reason this time, I’ve just been literally.. away due to the Christmas holidays!

Instead of always being busy working and blogging, I decided to just put my laptop away this holiday and spend actual time with the family. So yeah, that pretty much explains my absence hehe.

So how was Christmas 2013 for me?

Apart from my previous blog post about the Christmas party with WeChat, it was intimate with the closest circle.

Small and warm but great nonetheless. 

But to be honest, I really miss those times as a kid where Christmas was a huge celebration in the family.

We’d have friends and family over for a huge homemade Christmas dinner feast, we’d do caroling all night, put presents in our Christmas stockings (given, that’s for children, so let’s scratch that), we’d put our Christmas presents under our massive Christmas tree and the list goes on!

Since when has Christmas ever been about getting drunk or partying in a club to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ? Nope, not since ever. But I guess, as kids grow older and Christmas isn’t really celebrated in a big scale at home, people turn to that instead.

Just my sentiments. No offence to people who do that. It’s fine, really. To each their own.

I’m just comparing Christmas now and all the Christmases I’ve had as a kid. 

 Counting my blessings.

Maybe it’s time I take charge and helm the plannings for 2014’s Christmas.

I’ll bring the true festivity of Christmas we used to have back home along with the spirit of Yuletide, caring, giving, and  sharing. The walls of our home will once again echo with so much Christmas cheer and the abundance of being jolly and remembering the things to be thankful for in His name.

I’ll start by making it an imperative that all family members must have Christmas nails.

Just kidding. But hey look at my Christmas nails this year! DIY and proud of it. Who needs to go for manicures?

To be fair, we were all supposed to go to Hat Yai, Thailand for a family trip for Christmas… until the bombings occurred up North and some of us were feeling a wee bit skeptical on proceeding with the plans. So we didn’t. Well, some of them did but I didn’t. 

Kinda had to stay out of the blazing hot sun due to my Fraxel skin resurfacing laser treatment anyway.

So… Christmas 2013 in review? Let’s roll!

AT THE OFFICE

Would you look at all our presents under the Christmas tree? 😀

 We went for a Christmas lunch together at MIKAN Japanese Cuisine.

Such a pretty and cosy restaurant just right outside our office.

We had our fair share of sushi, temaki, bento, ramen and more.

This was mine!

 The Krakenites.

 More Krakenites! Release the Kraken!

Got back to office and we started unwrapping all our Secret Santa gifts.

The inquisitive side of me was dying to find out who.

But it was pretty easy to spot  Max hiding in the corner giggling while staring at me being all excited.

Thank you so much Max!

Max pulling a blank expression.

Everyone else got pretty awesome presents too! Let’s see if I remember everyone’s presents off the top of my head.

A Starbucks tumbler, a Santa mug, Ferrero Rocher, Marshmellows, a Doraemon mug, a dinosaur ashtray, a bottle of Sake wine, and oh no that’s all I remember. But the best part was everyone found out who their Secret Santa was. Not so much of a secret anymore, eh? Haha.

So that was Christmas with my workmates. Next up!

With the family. 

 We headed down to one of our all-time favorite steakhouses, Victoria Station!

Can’t believe we have been regulars at this restaurant since I was a kid!

And here we are again! Nothing has changed, except that I’m probably not the height of my parents’ waist

anymore and mommy & daddy probably have more wrinkles hehe.

And we have an extra person with us this time.

Kon joined us for Christmas this time round and tonight was some sort of a farewell for him.

After today, mom and dad won’t be seeing him anymore as he will be leaving back to Australia.

The friendly stationmaster took our orders. All the staff here have always been accommodating!

 Bread and butter on the house!

Christmas/Farewell dinner!

 Wanna see what we had? 

I will try to make it as brief as possible lest it turns into another food review again LOL! Can’t help it.

Lobster Thermidor soup Didn’t fancy this too much.

It tasted rather diluted and watered-down but the only plus side of this is of course, the lobster’s pincers.

Seafood Chowder soup. We loved this! This, to my best recollection, has always been our favorite.

It was chunky, creamy and full of seafood bits inside.

Mommy, daddy & me.

Konzy and I.

Here are some of our main meals from Victoria Station’s Christmas menu. Take a look! 

Grilled Chicken and Salmon

Triple fish combo of Salmon, Codfish and Dory.

 Victorian Steak

The verdict? All three of these meals were delicious! 

Nothing to complain about. Maybe after two decades, I’m probably just too used to the food here that my tastebuds are naturally accustomed to the taste no matter what it tastes like LOL.

My wonderful parents, dad & mom.

*Insert cheesy declarations here*

And of course, us. Jessicat and Kon.

It’s been three long years since university days, and soon, we’ll be saying goodbye.

 Dinner candids.

I always have a separate stomach for desserts.

Brownies with Ice Cream! Yum.

Thank you for a memorable evening, Victoria Station. Always a pleasure to dine in your premises.

I should check the KL one out too!

Back at home, we started to unwrap Christmas prezzies!

Will show you all my presents at the end of this post!

Fooling around taking silly selfies with the Christmas tree.

I swear my muscle composition has shrunk by tenfold. Been skipping trainings lately.

So that was Christmas with the family. Next up!

With the buddies. 

A night out with my homeboys!

 It was my first time in Cuvee, Precinct 10 Penang.

It was fun! Music was pumpin’ and the place was rather small but comfy nonetheless!

More good times with the buddies at RED in Belissa Row, Pulau Tikus Georgetown.

We played snooker, sang karaoke and had drinks!

Okay since we’ve come to the end of the post, I’ll show you all my Christmas presents!

MacBaren and Harvest pure tobacco in Dark Chocolate, Blackcurrent and Cafe!

Victoria Secret’s passport holder!

Pikachu hoodie!

THIS IS ABSOLUTE LOVE OMG OMG AAAAAAAAAAAHHH. 

Funky stiletto pumps!

 Swatch’s mechanical gear watch.

I love how I can watch the dials spin and the mechanic’s ticking clockwork.

I’ve received other presents too but didn’t get to take photos of them yet. In return, I ended up spending more than a thousand bucks on Christmas presents for everyone. Whoa! How on earth did it amount to that is beyond me LOL. But I’m glad everyone loved their presents!

They better 😛

Rushing to head off to a New Year Eve party right now the clock is ticking!

More dorky annoying shots of your little reindeer girl.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas (or holiday, at least)

AND HERE’S TO WISHING YOU A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR IN ADVANCE!

May the year 2014 be better than it was for you in 2013! Just like every year, I’ll be posting a 2013 year in review in the next post.

Let’s just hope my hangovers tomorrow won’t be too bad to render me unable to get out of bed haha.

Bye folks! x