an early family christmas

Christmas was just last week but my first Christmas do was almost 2 weeks ago. This was our annual family get together (held early cause one of my cousins were going overseas) and as in our family's tradition, held with much fanfare and food. (For the past 2 weeks, our fridge has been filled with Christmas leftovers and it seems like we're never going to see the end of it!)

Our trusty old Christmas tree - we've had this since I was a toddler and surprisingly, has kept in good condition. The star at the top of the tree has chipped slightly and well, it does seem to get sparser through the years but it's still a tree that we can rely on. This year we were a little less than organised and the tree only went up on the day. Usually, I'm given the task to put it up and well, let's say I delegated downwards this year and my little cousins helped me out on this one (I was busy wrapping presents!)

As far as I can remember, each Christmas has been celebrated with a leg of ham. I have distinct memories of ham - there's been years where in the Christmas aftermath, I'd eaten ham congee, ham fried rice, ham pasta, ham sandwiches. Over the years, we've been slightly smarter and split the ham equally amongst all the families. Here's J & my bro carving the ham.

This year we had a buffet table full of food. Every family came bearing a plate or more. Mum & Dad made the trip to the Fish Markets to get seafood and sashimi (I love salmon sashimi! I could possibly sit and eat salmon sashimi all day!)Here's the rest of the table - we actually had two tables combined together to fit all the food. We also put mum's buffet server to use which kept the hot food warm - mum bought it online awhile back and thought it'd be good for the family functions we have (as you may have gathered, my family is very passionate/crazy about food). A close up of some of the food - Sushi (bought from our local Jap restaurant), Satay Chicken Skewers, Tempura Prawns, Cucumber & Marinated Beef, Asssorted Finger Sandwiches (loved the Chicken Schnitzel with Rocket - you are quite the budding Chef my little coz!)And of course there was dessert! One of my cousin's baked an apple slice, there was a mango pudding, agar jelly with fruit, and an abundance of fresh fruit (including lychees - again, something I could eat all day!)

Compared to previous years, the ripping into Christmas presents managed to wait till after dinner and dessert. I bought that M&M bowl for my bro - I ended up going back to the shops and getting one for myself; how awesome do they look?!

It was particularly satisfying this year to watch everyone open their presents (esp. the ones that were from my family) as mum had entrusted me to buy them. It was great to see the smiles on people's faces and presents getting put to use straight away. So maybe the time spent at the shops was worth it - although let me just say, it was quite a different story when I was at the shops! Anyway, more Christmas blogging to follow...