Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

It's Christmas Eve.

This is my second Christmas in Melbourne. Soon the year of 2014 will come to an end and we'll welcome the 2015. How fast time flies...

"Christmas is a time when you get homesick — even when you're home." -Carol Nelson

Holidays always make me feel homesick. I picture my little hometown in time like this. The street and houses must be filled with colorful, flashing lights. Christmas songs fill the air, bringing the smell of holiday. People are busy preparing for the festive season; decorating Christmas trees, cooking lots of food, making pastries, buying new clothes, pimp up their looks.

I remember, years ago, I would come home on school break, celebrating the Christmas and New Year with my family. Weeks before the holiday, my uncle, being a great cook he is, would be busy decorating the Christmas tree at our house, making pastries (some were for us, the others were for people's orders), and I would help him in the kitchen. On the 25th we would have an open house for most friends and relatives to come visit and have a meal. Mum would be busy attending the guests, while me and my brothers, well, we would be certainly busy eating all the food and drinking the soft drinks. When Grandma was still alive, she would slip a red envelope in my and my brothers' hands with some money in it. Angpao. Although, I knew she barely had money left and no matter how many times I refused to take it, she would always insist. You can save it for something useful, she would say.

Admittedly, I miss all those things. I miss it so badly that it hurts.

Christmas is slightly dull here. Maybe it's because I'm celebrating the holiday by myself. I mean, I have my friends and all here but it still feels different. The spirit is different, I just can tell. I don't have any plan for Christmas. I'd probably end up staying at home, cleaning my room and preparing for Q's arrival. Or maybe, I'd go to the city and visit Tab at work and have an impromptu Christmas celebration at her workplace. We'll see.

In spite of my dull Christmas, I'd like to wish you a very Merry Christmas.

"May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope;
The spirit of Christmas which is peace;
The heart of Christmas which is love." -Ada V. Hendricks

 Until next post.