Apologies for not updating for a fair bit since my last entry. There have just been too many events in the last quarter.
Since the two Christmas parties organised by each of our offices, we've got a couple more parties of our own.
A very special US family decided to make a visit down under and we were crazy enough to go see them!!! We had to jostle with other people and get in line to take our photos with this family family of four. Everybody in this world knows this family. Clue - they come from Springfield....
In the last week of Nov, Esmond and I had whipped ourselves a seafood dinner. Yes, Esmond ate fish - baked fish fillet no less... (for those who have known Esmond for some time, you'll know that he'll stay away from fish except when it's fishballs or fish & chips...). We have have a dozen baked oysters (all home made...)
We had also attended Christina's final year project exhibition at QUT's Garden Point campus. Congratulations to Christina for being awarded the Top Architectural Student of QUT.
And in order to tidy up the house for the new year (also because the root was messing with our pavement. One of them actually caused a big crack!), we engaged a tree lopping service to help us cut down the two trees on the front of our house, as well as trimmed most of the shrub we've got around the yard. This set us back a few hundred bucks....
When Dec came, we convinced Heng Onn that the best present that he could give Christina was a something that wouldn't add to their luggage but would still be sufficient to give her a pleasant surprise - a more up to date hair style. So we got off work early one day, went to a hair salon and got him a spanking new haircut. (and Christina was indeed pleasantly surprised....)
Despite the haircut, Heng onn was still styling it the same way as his old one. Esmond felt sorry for their hair stylist who had painstakingly put in every snip on his head. So he imparted some hair styling techniques to him. (not just once too....)
After the styling session, we were all out on a trip to the northern suburbs. We stopped by Deagon to visit a big Taoist temple. However, we were a little too late as we reached there around 5pm.
After looking at the exterior of the temple, we proceeded to Portside to look at the Christmas tree that Heng onn insisted on visiting...
When we were with Portside, we went back to the Southern suburbs to see the Christmas decorations put up by the various households who were trying to compete to win the $5000 prize money. These people have put in a lot of effort and money to decorate their house for the Xmas spirit. The following entry won 2nd prize...
On the last working day before Christmas Eve, our office had a little Christmas lunch - potluck style. It was great to have everyone sitting down together, having lunch and opening up our presents from our secret santas.
Come Christmas Eve, we were all busy preparing for the big seafood dinner at home. Esmond and Heng Onn were enjoying themselves, gossipping away while peeling shells off 1kg of grey prawns...
As I had to work that day, Christina had to prepare bulk of the food. Look at our fridge! It's stuffed with food to the brim. Our friends had also cooked a few dishes to add to the range of food that we have...
Look at the spread that we had on that night!!! There were a total of 21 of us and we fitted to the length of 3 tables... Shy had even gave Roger (who is in UK) a call on his mobile to "spite" him for leaving us behind. We even passed the mobile around to spread our Christmas cheer ... ;)
After dinner, it was time for gift exchange. Everyone has to come with a gift of about $10 in value or a couple gift of about $20 in value. We drew lots and will choose our presents in sequence. After selection, we will have to unwrap our present there and then. Those whose sequence come later has the ability / right to snatch other people's gift or choose to select one from the pile.
So there were people who liked their choice very much and tried to discourage people from taking theirs, while others (like Peter) tried very very hard to sell his... There were also people snatching gifts from each others... some who went for the biggest gift and others who went for the most practical gift (Rey snatched the toilet rolls from Ian to save him from having to buy it)and two (Kelvin and Esmond) who came to an "under table" agreement to snatch gifts for each other and exchange them at the end.
This game of gift exchange took about a couple of hours, before we break for dessert prepared by Oi Hung and Winnie.
And our party went past midnight.....
Though we were tired after the long day, we were very happy to have invited our friends to join us in celebrating Christmas together.
The next day, all four of us went down to Harbour Town and Surfer's Paradise for the very much anticipated Boxing Day Sale! Christina and I just went berserk! It was our retail therapy. But before we embarked on our retail therapy, we headed to Ikea for breakfast and brunch.
And Ikea gave Heng Onn a new inspiration for taking photos - through a mirror. This idea bring forth loads of silly shots throughout the day...
While I had to work in the week leading up to the new year, the two guys at home were fortunate enough to be given leave from work. So with time on their hands, they embarked on a little painting project. Being an architect, Heng Onn couldn't stand the gastly multiple colours on our wall, so he had "psychoed" Esmond into giving some of the walls a fresh coat of paint. Initially, it was just one / two walls in the living. This soon was expanded into almost the whole living room, kitchen and master bedroom.
In the next weekend, we went to 17 Mile Rock for a picnic cum BBQ.
On New Year's Eve, I managed to take time off and stayed home. We prepared Tempura Dinner with guidance from Tim - Esmond's ex-colleague from CBA. He had worked in a Japanese restaurant before and had loads of experience in culinary. For this, we drove to Portside to buy fresh prawns for the Tempura dinner. (and did a little detour for some ice creams....)
Esmond and Heng Onn tried their hands at making and frying tempura prawns and veges.
We had a very very sumptious tempura dinner. (Doesn't it look delicious?)
Haw and Yan Er stayed over for the night. We played Texas hold'em poker till 4am. We didn't even realised that it was already that late, especially for Heng Onn because his usual bedtime is 930pm! By then, we could hear the birds chirping outside and the sun starting to rise. So had a "competition". The last one to wake up will need to treat all the rest to breakfast!
In the end, Rynaldo was the first one to wake up at 6++ (and he even went back to his home to take a bath and change his clothes). Next was Heng Onn, then me, Christina, Haw and a tie between Yan Er and Esmond.
There was no breakfast treat but we had all gone to meet up with Kelvin and Winnie for brunch at Neway.
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