Life as we don't know it

[Re-cap] December - What a wondrous time.

Sunday, January 12, 2014 @ 7:35 PM PERMALINK

December is usually a whirlwind of activities as everyone returns from overseas. Needless to say, it is one of my favourite times of the year. Although work was particularly busy the entire month, I'm glad that we all still managed to find time for friends and family.

Here's my little re-cap of what we were up to in December! More behind the jump...

Justine was back for her annual end of year visit and this time her boyfriend Evan came along with her.
For some reason, one of the first things we decided to go was to go cycling at East Coast.

I'm not the best cyclist, I still think that the only way I can/should cycle is if my feet can touch the ground when I stop. Jacob, Evan and Bong however are all pretty good cyclists since they use it as a mode of transport or (in Jacob's case) rides bicycles for fun.

At the half-way mark, we were still pretty cheery looking..

We stopped for awhile to see if Jacob could teach Berns how to ride a bicycle. After giving her an intro to cycling, we continued on for awhile more until it got dark and we turned back FOR SOME DINNER.

This is Evan's first time in Singapore so we were determined to give him a proper introduction to hawker food. We probably went overboard because everyone was too exhausted to eat. I don't even know how Justine and Evan stayed awake considering they only landed a couple of days before.

On the 23rd of Dec, we kept up our annual Christmas dinner tradition of having dinner at Bern's house. I took the day off and wrapped my presents. I was really lucky to be living next to IKEA because I only realised I had no wrapping paper at all on the day itself.

By that time, even IKEA has sold out out of Christmas wrapping paper. Thank god they (for some reason) had a line of Valentine's day wrapping paper already on sale. They also had these adorable coasters which I used as gift tags.

Jacob and Bong messing around. I have close to zero photos because I was too busy eating and left the snapping to Jacob.

I did get a photo of the spread though. Year after year, I don't know how Berns puts out such a feast for us. AND, she only starts cooking on the day itself, she really is a kitchen wizard.

I've recently downloaded a Purikura app on my phone and have been going a little bit overboard with it.

We counted down to Christmas at Michelle's house. She also prepared a spread for us which we enjoyed while waiting for the clock to strike midnight.

Once it was midnight, everyone hurriedly exchanged gifts. I got awesome gifts this year. My friends have amazing taste.

Lunch was an understated affair with my mum and sister. We weren't even properly dressed so there are no photos of us. Here is however, a picture of what we ordered this year.

I was fervently against turkey so we settled for ham and pork knuckle. Next year my sister gets to choose what we eat and she has decided that turkey is the way to go. I'm not looking forward to that.

After a massive lunch, it was off to Big 5 to have dinner with the Bongs.

Falcor has to be one of the world's sweetest dogs. Here he is patiently awaiting orders to eat a piece of lamb Chris balanced on his nose.

Lighting of the Christmas pudding.. Yummy!

We also had brunch at Maison Ikkoku. Service was great and the food was fabulous. I'll definitely be back!

If there was anything to fault, Maison Ikkoku does have these really tiny tables though, which made it quite a challenge to fit all our plates on the table.

We also stopped by the Public Garden flea at the National Library for a quick look-see.

We weren't very sure what we'd do to ring in the new year. At about 7.30pm, Jacob decided to volunteer his place for an impromptu barbecue. Jacob and Berns sped off to buy the supplies while Bong and I waited for them to return. Once they got back from the supermarket, we prepped all the food and in slightly over an hour, we were grilling like pros...

Well..Pros with a little make-shift BBQ pit and an iphone for light.

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Sometimes in life, you have to create your own circumstances - like when there is no wind in the area and you want to fly a tiny kite.

We went up to Siglap Hill to catch a glimpse of the fireworks. It was a pretty good plan. We had a decent view and didn't have to jostle with a crowd of impatient people.

The boys tried to start a fire again to roast some marshmallows. We weren't very successful this time round so eventually we just took to the playground to amuse ourselves.

With that, I conclude my very brief recap of the last month of 2013. ONWARD TO 2014!!

Labels: Adventures in our backyard, christmas, family and friends, new year's eve