Christmas 2017

Christmas elves and
gingerbread kids

We did not put up any Christmas decorations at home, nor did we plan any special family outreach program to bless our community this year, apart from helping out a little at the church's children Christmas program in November. That was because I, the sole organiser in the family, was deeply involved in our church's Christmas musical. I was already maxed out bringing the kids for preplanned outings while attending the rehearsals. It was a step of faith, a step I took with fear and trembling, to trust that God would safeguard my ailing health as I proceeded to serve Him in this manner. And He was faithful indeed! Praise God for seeing me through the punishing schedule for the past two months!

Since the actual performance was on Christmas Eve, my battery was beyond flat and could not bring the kids out for our traditional Christmas light walk down Orchard Road that day. We postponed it to Christmas Day instead, despite the fact that there were no street performances to watch anymore. 

Thankfully, Sony Pictures produced an exceptionally beautiful animation movie about the Christmas story: The Star! The munchkins totally adored the animals in the show and laughed like crazy over their silly antics. I appreciate the producers for showing their consideration to the young audience by taking out the parts of the actual historical narration which are not suitable for their age group. 

This year's lights were rather plain as compared to other years'. Even the kids mentioned that the decorations were not as nice as before. Still, there was this interesting tunnel with glow-in-the-dark painted words and designs which the kids enjoyed. The Star Wars theme at Centrepoint was pretty cool to the kids too. I personally found the choo-choo train simulation outside ION Orchard really lovely. Sadly, Orchard Gateway's space theme was simply too weird. Did they run out of ideas after many years of good displays? *shrug*

Joram was really amused
by these giant presents

The children pestered me to get these LED lit bubble balloons for them. I was very reluctant at first to buy when I was told it cost $15 per piece but we managed to find another vendor down the road who was selling it at $10 each. The price was still steep but I figured it was just for a special occasion so I bought it for them. You should hear them squeal in delight when I finally relented. ROFL

However, our resident imp managed to spoil it a mere 10 minutes after purchase by ripping out the wires with her itchy fingers. Sigh... At least she had the decency not to throw a tantrum about it. In the end, the children actually asked me to remove the lights because they only wanted to play with the balloons. I then decided to spruce up my swing chair with the LEDs instead. *wink* I must get my money's worth!

The "naked" balloons

Ta-da!!!