Make Merry this X'mas!

'Fill the home with lotsa foodie, fa la la la la, la la la la.

Tis the season to be homely, fa la la la la, la la la la.

Stay at home we,

Spend time with thee,

Fa la la, fa la la,

LA LA LA.'

Lyrics by S.A.M.M.I.E.

I am back to blog!

And be warned, this is gonna be a long post with lotsa pictures to share! And I mean LOTS!

On X'mas eve, we stayed at home, away from our hectic schedule and spent time together as a family.

To those of you who have gone home this X'mas, I hope you have enjoyed the warmth and love that HOME brings.

I cooked 2 special meals for my 2 loves that night.

For Mike - Pan seared butter codfish with bacon cheese rolls wrapped with golden mushrooms, and chilled potato salad.

For Cheery - Pasta with boiled carrots and codfish.

I was rather nervous with the dishes, especially with the codfish because it's the first time I'm doing this dish and instead of following a conventional recipe, I created the ingredients and sauces with my own self-thought ideas.

I sure didn't wanna risk putting the 30cm long codfish to waste.

And I'm really glad it turned out good.

First up, Cheery's dinner - which she later licked clean!

Our ice wine for the night, I took it out early to chill.

A toast to love, joy and peace.

Main course served.

Well, not world-class standards by aesthetics.

But Mike rated me an 8 out of 10 for the dish, and he finished up everything, which is most heart-warming to me.

Our log cake on the morning of X'mas.

And what is X'mas without gifts and presents.

These are just some of my favourite gifts received.

I like to take this opportunity to thank all my dear friends, for this friendship and love extended to me. Every year I grow richer, only because I have your friendship.

Jon got me this cap from HongKong and I love it, and of course wearing it to HongKong next week!

Amanda got me this pair of earrings, which I chose myself when we went shopping together.

I didn't know when this present from Eileen was put on my desk and I only realised it when I was home unpacking all presents later in the day. Thanks Xiao Mei!

What a glam pouch from Lillian, perfect for clubbing and a girl's night out.

The colour changes too.

I love this! Mini fondue set from Estee and Oliver. I've been pondering for a while to buy one for home, to make chocolate or cheese fondue, and now I have it as a gift.

Double necklace from Cat. We choose this together and I just love the design.

Finally, I have a proper lunch pouch, from Ambrosia.

What lovely heart-shaped earrings, from Siti.

I love this plant from Edwin, for it's so meaningful to get a growing gift.

And the most touching gift of all, from Kaline, a make-up pouch from Espirit.

She was barred from going out due to her medication and yet, she went through the trouble to coordinate with her sisters to do the shopping.

From Mike - they're stunning. Thank you, ling!

And he gave me a pair of Timberland leather gloves as well, for our Hokkaido trip.

It's not Santa's gunny sack. It's my present to Mike.

It's a winter jacket from Timberland, just great for our Hokkaido trip and his work trips to France.

This jacket gotta lasts you a long while, ling, cos' it retails at more than half a grand!

He very graciously agreed to model for me, so I shall not comment too much on his lack of modelling skills.

"Er, nice try, ling."

Cheery also went sniffing for her presents under the X'mas tree early in the morning.

How would we have left her out.

"This is from Mommy and Daddy, girl."

She's trained at tearing open her presents.

Within a minute, she's got it opened!

Her little 'meow meow' which we got her. It meows when you squeezes it.

"I like my 'meow meow', Mommy!"

Next up, we told her she has another present from Auntie Amanda, and she wasted no time in going at it!

"Now, it's a dog!"

And I'm not so sure if it still barks when you squeezes it by the way it looks.

Anyway, Cheery is a happy girl this X'mas.

In fact, so excited was she that she went about mistaking Daddy's presents for hers.

This is from Bryan and Jessie, to Mike, and Cheery went for it mistakenly. When we found out, it was too late.

She had already 'unwrapped' it and tore the tag off.

Then, she went for another of Mike's present! This is from Cat.

"Hmmm...rather hard to rip at this cos' it's hard." Phew.

Mike's got lotsa Doraemons this X'mas. This is another one, from Amanda.

It's a phone!

And while Cheery was tearing away madly at her presents, I found another surprise under the X'mas tree!

A card from ling!

And its contents brought tears to my eyes. Love you, ling.

Last but not least, lots of joy and cheer in the office on the eve, we made merry the whole morning and did no work.

Click on to enjoy more pictures and don't forget to turn on your speakers.

X'mas in Office 2007