christmas musing

ahh… tomorrow is christmas. i’ll be on leave from tomorrow right to 28 dec. not that i want to take the leaves (because no money to go anywhere) but force to take them as i have to clear up all my annual leaves by the end of the year. damn! why can’t bring forward the leaves? the last monday and tuesday i was on leave too. suppose to use these 2 days of leaves to do my SSVP accounts but instead i was addicted to the net and spent the time online instead. only took 2 hours out of the approx. 20 hrs to look through my accounts. look through mind you, did not do them at all. guess i’ll have to do it next week.

ok what are my plans this christmas? nothing much. the first thing is of course attending mass. i used to like attending midnight mass (on the eve of christmas)… though we can’t really say it is midnight now as it starts early, some as early as 8.30 while most at around 10.30pm. well, the 10.30pm service will probably end near midnight, so hence i guess it is appropriate to refer to it as midnight mass.

well nowadays i don’t attend midnight mass on the eve of christmas but the morning mass on christmas day itself. one of the reason is being in charge of the ‘duty roster’ for the mass, it’s better for me to be there to see there those on duty turn up. i have to be a reserve! usually most people will attend the midnight mass, which leave the morning mass with very few people to be on duty. so i have to be present to sort of stand-by.

to continue reading, please click on ‘jog over for more’.

and this year, xmas falls on saturday, a working day for me at the church (part-time), so i guess i’ll be working on xmas day. actually my work at the church is flexible. if i don’t want to work on saturday, i’ll make sure i finish my important necessary work on friday evening, then i don’t have to go on saturday. usually on a saturday i work from 10.00am to 6.00pm but i can leave anytime i like as long as i finish my important necessary work (usually after lunch time). usually after i finish my important necessary work, i’ll hang around doing other not so important work. there are 2 other clerks working with me, and a tamil and mandarin translator will come in too for a while, so it is kind of good enjoyable working environment with many of us around, where we always have fun as we chat and joke.

long ago we always celebrate xmas by having a barbecue and inviting our friends, but after we move to a small one-room flat, we stop doing it. (of course, where got place to barbecue?). now we just have some plain makan-makan e.g. cakes, drinks, titbits and all that stuffs you know. a few of my sister’s friends would drop in. as for me, it depends. some will turn up, some won’t or nobody will turn up at all BUT my very good friend, mei (ex classmate), will sure turn up every year without fail. she had become our family friend, and when she turn up, she will usually bring along her nieces and nephews. she will bring a xmas gift for our family and we will give her nieces and nephews gifts.

and what decoration we have in the house to welcome christmas? well, as i blog here, i already show you the decoration – a crib, surrounded by snowmen (candles)! the other 2 candles are also for decorative purpose. however, we will have a set of candles in a lovely container lighted up near the altar. (those small little candles… er… what’s it call… you know, where people usually light it then put inside some container). we will usually light the candles, after returning from mass, and say a little prayer. oh yeah, after returning from mass, is also time for us to celebrate! (us here means the ones i’m staying with – my mum and my sis). it will be carlsberg for me! haha.

we had stop the practise of exchanging gifts… among our siblings, but i as an aunty, do give gifts to my nephews and nieces.. AND to my mum. we came to a mutual agreement that we do not give each other gifts but only to kids (and old people). some people may balk at this idea – why no exchanging of gifts among family? – oh well *shrug* to each her/his own.

christmas… well i won’t say i look forward to christmas but i sure welcome it, it being in commemoration of the birth of our saviour, jesus christ. though many people say that xmas is not a religous event but a cultural event, i beg to differ. to me, it is very much a religious event, but of course it doesn’t mean that a religious event of a particular religion, the people of other faith should not join in the celebration. in fact, it is good to see those who are not christians celebrating xmas as many of them do know what xmas is all about (birth of christ). it’s just that not being christians, the religious favour in the celebration is missing. nothing wrong with that. as viewtru wisely said, as long as there is peace and goodwill among men (the christmas message), christmas is for ALL!! and remember christmas will bring tidings of comfort and joy to all too.

taken from last verse of the xmas hymn ‘god rest ye merry gentlemen”.

chorus: o tidings of comfort and joy,
comfort and joy
o tidings of comfort and joy!

now to the lord sing praises
all you within this place
and with true love and brotherhood
each other now embrace
this holy tide of christmas
doth bring redeeming grace

o tidings of comfort and joy,
comfort and joy
o tidings of comfort and joy!

btw, before i end, since many of you would be having a long holiday and so free-free to sit in front of the computer, here are some links for you to visit, if you like.

first of all, remember in one of my blog on xmas, i mentioned about the carol ‘the 12 days of christmas’ and hope that a blogger might come up with her/his own version? well, one did – jalan riong of malaysian lampoon.

and this one is very funny. popular christmas carols turned into something else:
corporate christmas carols

very technical explanation of christmas
not so technical explanation of christmas.
what christmas is all about – religious point
christmas jokes
christmas inspirational stories