Christmas is just over, and we are currently trying to recover from the many services that we have attended, and the many parties as well.

The kids naturally love Christmas, and we have managed to restrain them from opening their presents immediately. We told them to wait till Christmas Day. 

It was like putting the kids on a “No Ice-Cream Diet” for a  few weeks, and when their day of salvation came, they were overjoyed! Even though we came back at 11pm on Christmas Eve, they were ready to stay up and open their PRESENTS!

We are so thankful to all our family and friends who have sowed such WONDERFUL presents for the kids! A summary of what they received:

• Jigsaw puzzles (various designs, degree of difficulty)
• Design your own (mirrors, piggy banks, photo frames, jewellery)
• Bags (for school, for church, for casual outing)
• Clothes (formal, casual, semi-formal, smart casual)
• Accessories (hair bands, hair clips, bracelets, necklaces, towels, underwear)
• Books (board, varying reading difficulties)
• Themed toys (Thomas, Toy Story, Barbie, Strawberry Shortcake, Princess, Cars, Hotwheels)
• Miscellaneous (soft toys, stickers, building blocks, playdoh, helicopter, remote control cars, girly stuff, rough-play stuff)

This is what daddy & mummy will be in for the next few weeks:

• make ice-cream, both with the real thing and with play-doh
• put little cars for carwash and watch them change colour
• plait hair, curl hair, bun up hair
• design dresses, skirts and blouses off a mannequin
• fly a G.I Joe plane
• wear 3D glasses to do some colouring
• tattoo art all over

We bought, wrapped and labelled a total of 117 gifts, and we certainly received many many more times of that! Christmas is really a season for love and giving! Thank you everyone for your love!

Mummy blogs & hums…

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…Everywhere you go…

Our Christmas tree at home is up with Silver baubles, Silver hearts, Silver raindrops, Silver stars… we have them frosted, matt, and shiny. It looks beautiful, really.

Take a look in the five-and-ten…glistening once again…

So begins our Christmas shopping. I started this list, that seems to be growing. It was time to ask innocent questions like, “What’s Tom’s daughter’s name?” or “Is Grace’s kid a boy or a girl?” Well, I’m on track in my shopping! Woohoo!

With candy canes and silver lanes aglow…

Then of course there’s my three kids to think about. In the past, we brought them to Toys”R”Us and they could choose anything they wanted for Christmas. This year, yours truly came up with what I think is a B.R.I.L.L.I.A.N.T. idea for the kids!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

We will go Toys”R”Us, but instead of choosing a gift for themselves, they will choose a gift for their siblings! And of course, we would be around to moderate! Ain’t that a great plan? They get to think about each other, we get to teach them about giving, and we can say NO without hurting their feelings!

Toys in every store…

We did just that today. Marched to the toy store, while each child was away attending a Trial Class (more about that in the next post), the remaining two kids will pick a toy. We’ll pay and get it wrapped, so it remains a SECRET.

It was a huge challenge.

• No one wanted to put much thought into the gift. In fact, Nicole wanted to get Nathan a Toy Story Greeting Card! She insisted he likes Toy Story.

• I forgot that getting a boy to think of a girl gift with my friends was so difficult, let alone for a 3 yr old! Nathan was absolutely not interested to look at ANYTHING in the girls’ department. Nicole told him she wanted anything Barbie. At the Barbie lane, he saw Barbie as a Dentist, Barbie the Bride, Barbie with the dog, Barbie on a scooter, Barbie in Green, Barbie in Purple… He looked frustrated when he exclaimed, “I don’t know!”

• As for a gift for Nadine, no one wanted to look into that. And she was agreeable to buy anything for them!

After much marketing and persuading, they bought their gifts! It was exciting in the car when they saw the three large boxes. Then it started, “I want to open it now”, “What’s inside”, “What did you buy for me?”… if you know kids, secrets do not exist among pre-schoolers. The truth came out quite quickly. Urgh!! We had to change the topic, sing carols to distract them.

But we’ll do it again next year. I’ll say 2010’s just teething problems! Look at the three new gifts under the tree! And more love in the family eh!

But the prettiest sight to see…is the holly that you see…on your own front door

It’s really beginning to look a lot like Christmas! How does your family prepare the Christmas gifts? Do share!

Mummy checks out… still humming…

The next few days promises to be one of great merrymaking and one where there is lots of eating.

Chinese New Year is a time when we Chinese dress-up and we have our own version of Thanksgiving, and when we spend time with our family.

Last year, Nicole really did well, as she danced her way into the hearts of the relatives.

This year, Nicole had some great advice for her siblings on how to say Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Nicole says:

1st, you got to make a “Stone”

2ndly, you got to make a “Paper”

And when you put them together, you have got a:

 

Have a Great New Year, and all the best from the Tay Family!

It is my favourite time of the year again, and tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Yipee!!!

We have been busy shopping for relatives and friends, and the shops are getting really crowded as everybody is doing their last minute shopping.

The kids have also been getting into the mood, as we have been playing Xmas Carols in the car. Have you ever realized that this is the only time of the year, where you need to check your CD cabinet, and pull out those old dusty Xmas CDs.

The older kids have also been enjoying this A Capella Group called “Straight No Chaser”. They were made popular due to Youtube, and they have been entertaining us since their first Xmas album. Check out their famous YouTube Hit here. (It has more than 10 million hits!

They just launched another Holiday album for 2009, and the songs are proving to be really catchy as well! Check out one of their holiday selections here:

The song is really fun and catchy!!!

This other video gives a good background of the History of Straight No Chaser

If u like their songs, you can also find their albums at HMV!

But most importantly, you got to make this holiday season extra special for yourself and your family.

Join us at the Singapore Expo or at Jurong West St 91, to experience the magic of Christmas.

In my honest opinion, I think City Harvest Church puts up great dramas and I believe that you will definitely enjoy this one! Do come down and join us this Xmas!

Christmas is just round the corner, and everyone is getting into the holiday mood.

We had one of our Christmas CG meetings last night, and we hunted high and low for our Xmas Carols.

At that moment, I remembered about this 10 men accapella (Singing without instruments) group, which I stumbled upon last year. The group is called Straight No Chaser, and they were a Youtube Sensation in 2007, with over 1 million hits!

Here’s a video of 1 of their songs:

Cool Right! It all started when they were going to have a class reunion, and they posted some old videos of themselves singing in college. People liked it so much, that it became a hit on Youtube!

This just shows the power of the Internet and mass media!

Straight No Chaser just launched a Christmas Album, and it seems to be the perfect CD for this Christmas. I went to the shops at the Suntec Area and I was disappointed, as they did not carry the CD at all.

I was thinking of ordering a copy from the States. Only thing is that, it will only arrive after Xmas! (Who will be in the mood to listen to carols after Xmas)

I made a call to HMV and they happened to have a few copies. That’s great news, as it means that I can save on my postage and shipping! Yaah!

Looks like for the next few days, I will be getting into the Xmas mood even more…as I listen to my new CD

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