Christmas!.....

Thought i'll post a pre-christmas posting....

It's christmas season again....the sales are here....the crowds are gathering....town's congested with people and traffic...queues for wrapping presents....and of course appointments prior to christmas....

I do not usually celebrate christmas....hence as a kid....stockings and santa don't excite me, neither do i feel the atmosphere or any significance....

but as i grow older....have learnt to appreciate certain things...vaguely remember the first time i actually felt the festive mood....among the crowds and decorations at orchard road...perhaps because of my height at that age, my scope of view was limited to the lightings of the decorations above and the people around me....hence from memories....the lightings were mesmerising, even stunning at times ....people were wearing smiles on their faces...couple arms locked, together...enjoying their moments together, oblivious of the crowd....cameras capturing the atmosphere and the beautiful sights....parents holding their childen's hands....or skipping around...light sticks in their hands....as if exploring a theme park....sales girls in red suits and white boots selling santa hats and light sticks....and spotting red hats every few mins....those moments were like precious photographs stored in memory.....but

as time passed....those color photographs seemed to fade to blank and white....christmas became merely congested crowds....queues....traffic....as i walked the paths that i may have walked many yrs back....ahead of my sight were a sea of blobbling heads...the heat and the noise.....hence...subsequent years became silent Christmas in the peace of my own home....

till years passed....friends, peers and familes, become part of your life....and surprisingly simple christmas cards and gifts, brings about the tinge of excitment, happiness and warmth....the season becomes precious days of sharing, giving and receiving love and happiness....crowds, noise heat doesn't seemed to matter anymore...you felt the joy....what matters was how you spent and share with the person or persons beside you...it's the presence of someone or all those beside you and the time spent together that's precious....they were people who were with you somewhere throughout our life....hence the gift....of being remembered....of having spent precious time together....it's something that cannot be put into words....

even the opportunities to be in the midst of or witness such sights in town...the crowds and decorations....are in itself, valuable....even my japanese teacher commented that spending Christmas in japan....was mostly quiet nights at home or eating cakes at most....while in Singapore, she can feel the happiness of the festive season and see the beautiful lightings in town....not everyone has the oppotunity to do so....

so to everyone.....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

and thanks for all the cards, gift and love.....