Christmas has always been one of my top few favourites in my list of annual celebrations.

I feel blessed for being able to be grow up celebrating the love, warmth & the festive spirit of Christmas.

My first Christmas dinner of the year was an intimate party thrown by GUINNESS® Malaysia!

That evening at Dirty Nelly's Pub @ KL Life Centre was a warm and cosy one. 

I was glad to gather amongst my good friends & associates (some of which whom I've not seen for a while!) for a delightful buffet spread of a Christmas dinner and of course…

unlimited pouring of a perfect, frothy pint of GUINNESS® draught.

Apart from chugging it, my favorite thing to do with my pint of GUINNESS® – the frothy moutstache! 

During dinner, we were each given a little Christmas gift from GUINNESS® Malaysia!

It was a miniature snow globe with the GUINNESS® mascot, the iconic toucan inside. 

There are three different variants altogether. Might wanna keep all three as a novelty collection, no? 

Limited edition snowglobes!

You can get yours by purchasing your GUINNESS® at participating outlets/pubs

Drinking more GUINNESS® & giving myself more moustaches!

Guess who was the special guest of the night?

It's local singer-songwriter-music producer, Vince Chong! 

Vince Chong serenading us LIVE with certain selections from his new album

Several covers of traditional, classic Christmas songs like 'Silent Night', 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus', 'Winter Wonderland', 'When A Child is Born', 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas amongst others, were performed for us.

He also included his original track, 'With You This Christmas' as well. It was co-written by himself (and legendary local jazz artist Michael Veerapen's son, Daniel Veerapen!) 

Congratulations on the release of your debut Christmas album CD, 'With You This Christmas'!

The songs were lovely. Those interested can get it via CzipLee Bangsar and CanaanLand Bookstore for RM28. It's also available on iTunes & Amazon! 

Thank you, GUINNESS® for having me. I had a great time with good company! 

***

Year in and year out, a typical, traditional Christmas celebration was something that my family & I never fail to organize with other friends, relatives & loved ones.

We used to have Christmas carolling, stuffed turkeys, home-cooked traditional Christmas fare, Christmas tree decoration, massive gift exchange, hanging Christmas stockings up for Santa, exchanging Christmas greeting cards, candy canes, wearing Santa hats and reindeer horns during our family Christmas dinners and more.

This year, we decided to do it differently 

For our Christmas eve dinner, we celebrated the countdown and gathered together for a…

Chinese Seafood dinner LOL

I know, how odd! LOLOLOLOL 

But we still did have some strain of tradition left in us! Certain things will always remain.

We blasted Christmas songs at home the whole day and had a small gift exchange – sorry for my dreadful present-wrapping skills! It's what's inside that counts, right? HAHA 

The lovely Christmas cake that mom decorated 

Our Christmas tree at home!

Here's a close up

And some of the presents under our tree!

The next afternoon, we took a trip downtown to TAO Japanese Cuisine restaurant in located in Penang Times Square for our Christmas lunch. 

Japanese cuisine to celebrate Christmas? Ummmmm… what?

I know, this is so unbecoming of us!  I really hope we don't go out on a tangent like this next year.

Surprisingly, that was all the photos I took. There were at least ten times more the amount of food on our table, but I decided to put my iPhone down to actually concentrate on my family lunch 

Ever since the advent of smartphones and Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and others, I don't want our family mealtimes to end up like this –

HAHA. Guilty?

Some of us at the table! I don't know where the rest went LOL

With mom & godmom 

Best grandmother in the world! 

My series of Christmas celebrations ended with a couple of beer pints & cocktails; Killkenny, Guinness & White Russian 

BestieJoyce, Konzy, Mike and I headed to Zenzi Bar @ Upper Penang Road with a few others.

BFF and I 

With the boys Konzy & Mike

Drinkies! 

And that wraps up my unconventional Christmas this year. 

To be honest, I do miss the good ol' traditional Christmas celebrations my family and I used to hold annually without fail. Hmm… maybe I'll take over the plannings next year.

Move over. It's my turn! 

After all, I'm pretty big on Christmas.

Plus, it gives me an excuse to make a perfect roast with plenty of stuffing, bake some amazing pies, puddings & desserts as well as wrap pretty presents that my family won't ever say no to 

Here's to hoping your Christmas was well-spent with warmth around the people closest to you!

Lest you forget the real meaning of Christmas, it is the spirit of unparalleled love, great joy and togetherness.

Mary's boy child, Jesus Christ, was born on Christmas day.

So Christmas, is basically our celebrating God's love to us all – the birth of Christ.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, DEAR READERS! 

May your days be merry & bright! And may all your Christmases be white 

(As you know, Malaysia doesn't snow… so.. fake snow will do for now)