Scenes from Christmas

A little glimpse of what our Christmas looked like...

We made Christmas cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.

The house was all decorated with some of my favorites like these stackable Santas by the window.

Joey read The Night Before Christmas along with our family rendition of Wombat Divine (with the help of my uncle and neighbours since we were without the rest of the Tan clan).

Buddy was certain he saw Santa's sleigh in the sky and so they all ran over to check it out.

Except Cally.  She was a little freaked out about big Santa coming in her house.

She did help pick which cookies would go on our Christmas plate for Santa and Rudolph.  This year Buddy's only message in his letter was for a nose or hoof print.

Gathering around the tree for Christmas morning.

What a treat to have my Uncle Tony (a chef) cooking for us in our kitchen.

The best stuffing I've ever eaten.

Along with my uncle, my cousin Nik and his fiancee (they got engaged two days ago) flew in from Singapore on Christmas day.

Buddy's pressie from my uncle was this shirt and tie.  He loved it.  

And I love that I caught him smiling.

All the Rabino sisters (our Eva in white) and their families came too.  

It was so nice to have so much family around.

Our very dear neighbours, Mike and Semele, whose daughter Kaiya is one of Ella's best friends, joined us too.  They will soon have Eva's cousin helping them at home.

Joey and Uncle Tony worked hard, but had fun along the way.

The dinner was delicious...

 ...and the day was perfect.

A pop of color

This orange jacket was a birthday gift from my mum and dad.  It's Thai (I think).

The weight of it and the sleeve length work nicely for the slightly cooler weather.  (Now as I reread this  post, it's been far colder.  We've got the heaters out and bed socks on).

I found this sandy colored wall just outside the Stanley sports complex where Ella takes African drum classes.  I had to find a new wall since the rust colored one I have used before had been tagged with graffiti.  Don't get me wrong, I love artistic graffiti.  But, this was just an obscene word scribbled very randomly in the middle of a wall.  No creativity whatsoever.  Hmmpf!

These pictures were taken at the beginning of the Christmas holiday and the madness of our first week off.  We're now into our second week, Christmas is over and I've got a birthday party to plan.  We don't get much of a break with birthdays.  Two at the beginning of December (at least I don't have to plan mine), one right after New Year's, and the last at the beginning of February.  What were we thinking?

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas.  Despite not having our family here as we usually do, we did have a most lovely day.  We still had Eva and Jojo (the sweet couple who take care of us) and their family over, my uncle and cousin (who flew in on Christmas with his girlfriend), and our dear neighbors (who are practically like family anyhow).  The house was full, just as we like it.

Enjoy the rest of 2011!  I'll try to upload some pictures of our Christmas, but until then, see you in the New Year!

Outfit details:

jacket - Stanley market (a gift)

hat - gift from my sister

jean shorts - Goodwill

top - Gap

boots - dolce vita

Christmas in their words

Ella made a Christmas countdown at school.  Each day, she takes off a link and follows what it says.  She has given hugs, asked about our favorite Christmas traditions, etc.  Today the countdown read for her tell the Christmas story.

Here's part of the story she told.  I love it because I can just hear her teacher's influence.  FYI - her teacher is from New Zealand.  Listen for there's a stable out the back and what kind of animals live in it.  Loving every bit.

Buddy helped clarify some bits, especially the insence gift.

And Cally added her thoughts about Santa.

Based on her comment here, can you guess what her reaction to seeing Santa was yesterday?

On another note, I'm incredibly thankful for the arrival of our own Christmas elf, who we named Elvis. You can read about the elf on the shelf phenomenon here.  I love that it's the story of another family's tradition and we can share in it.  But most of all, for me, Elvis has renewed Buddy's belief in the magic of Christmas.  He's been totally wrapped up in it ever since he arrived.  And that's the best gift yet.

Merry Christmas everyone!
Wishing you all the joy of the season filled with the love of family and the spirit of Christmas.

My dear Dad

He came back from Vietnam last weekend looking so smart, I had to snap this picture.

I love his purple dress shirt paired with the navy vest.  Very stylo (his word).  Not bad for 76, eh? He and my mum are already in NYC with my sisters and their families for Christmas.  I'm missing being all together this Christmas, but I'm glad they can be there.  My sister is too pregnant to fly, so there wasn't really much of a choice.  And, I have my uncle here, so we're not totally alone or anything.  I'll be seeing them for a quick week in March to meet my new niece and I can't wait!

A lunch date

Not with the hubby, though. I had a lunch date with my uncle who is here visiting/working.  You see, my uncle is a chef and he's reviewing the food scene in Hong Kong for an upcoming project. As such, we've been lucky to have him around for the last few weeks and have been invited to dine with him on several occasions (mostly my mum and my hubby).

Yesterday, it was my turn.

The place was Sevva, a gorgeous restaurant/bakery on the 25th floor of the Prince's Building, near all the banks in Central.  I've never been given such excellent treatment.  They'd prepared some signature dishes for us, we had the business manager come and meet with us to answer questions, we had both the maitre'd and the floor manager waiting on us along with two waiters.  We were even supposed to meet with the owner herself, a big name in the social scene here in Hong Kong, but she was delayed in a meeting.  All in all, it was two hours of culinary and aesthetic bliss.

Joey doesn't let me do my normal look down pose.

On top of that, I do love a good excuse to dress up.  It was the perfect opportunity for me to wear my newly thrifted Prada heels.  I got them at my neighborhood Salvation Army.  Can you believe it?  I really love this store (the sunglasses are from there as well).  But I'm heartbroken because the place is closing down as of tomorrow, the 21st.  Not only will I miss going there and finding treasures (did I say I also found some Miu Miu peep toes here a few months ago?), but I won't have a close drop off point for donations.  High rent is forcing the store to close.  How's that irony? 

I've tried to be optimistic about the changes in Stanley Market (and the plaza), but I don't like this.  

Not one bit.

Outfit details:

American Apparel skirt, Prada heels (thrifted), bbase sunglasses (thrifted), Coach purse (vintage) from Etsy,

sweater from Stanley Market (a shop I still like)

Seeing spots

Apologies for the darkness in this picture.  I really was trying to squeeze the last of the daylight out to get an outfit shot.  The last few weeks have been so busy that I literally had about seven minutes before it would have been to late.  I got this dress from Tea and Tulips, an online shop run by Steffy from Steffys Pros and Cons blog. 

 I saw her model it on her blog when I discovered her a few weeks ago, and it was just my color.  I had to grab it.  She has a number of things in her store now that I've got my eye on.  Really, you should check her out.  Very cute.

In the spirit

In this last crazy week of madness before our Christmas break, the high school has become a hive of school spirit.  Each day is dedicated to a particular theme.  People who dress up can earn points for their class.  Teachers are invited to dress up, too.

It's always fun to take part, so some colleagues and I have taken on this challenge together.  I didn't participate on the first day, however.  Monday was fashion disaster day.  Despite NOT dressing for this, I was asked more than a few times if I was, starting with my cheeky hubby.  One of my friends at work said she had hoped with my eclectic sense of style that people wouldn't ask me if I was taking part.  Well, they did.

Here's what I wore...

I was quite pleased with this look - NOT a fashion disaster.

What do you think?  I'm quite fond of the belted sweater look.  

I even saw it on Street Peeper last night.

Tuesday was teacher-student swap day.  Students dress like teachers and teachers dress like students, pretty straightforward.  This was almost too easy for me.  And, it worked to my advantage because yesterday morning was chaotic in our house and left me very little time to think about an outfit.  

Imagine, however, how surprised I was to walk into my first class and find two of my students dressed like me!  And, throughout the day, I stumbled upon a few other Ms. Nolascos.  

I was totally flattered.  They had me pegged.  I hadn't realized that I had a signature look, but apparently, I do.  In fact, after yesterday, I'll be looking back to some of their interpretations of me for some style inspiration.

Dingle Bell

It's Cally's favorite Christmas carol and she sings it practically all the time.  In fact, last night at dinner, she was already singing Dingle Bell when it came on the sound system at the restaurant.  She squealed in recognition.

 Cally sings Dingle Bell

Last week when we decorated our tree, she couldn't stop bouncing or bopping.  It was fun to watch her getting so excited.  I tried to get her to be a little more gentle on our decorations, but it was a futile effort.  Really, there's not much she can do to the decorations because they're kid friendly and deliberately placed at her level so she can enjoy them, which is what we want her to do anyhow. Looking with your eyes, something all the others did reasonably well, is really hard for Cally to do.

Our bouncy Cally

Amidst all this excitement that Christmas is coming, my big boy told me something last night that I've been worried he'd figure out sooner or later.  I brushed it off to downplay it, in hopes he'd forget (and Ella was standing close), but this morning I got in his bed to snuggle him and ask him why he'd said it.  With a few tears in his eyes, he explained that because he's getting older, he just realized things about the handwriting on Santa's letters, etc.  I asked him if he'd heard anything from school, but he didn't really say.  Maybe he didn't want to tell me.  I don't know.

All I could say to him was what I already believe about Christmas.  If we believe in the magic and the spirit of Christmas, then the idea of Santa Claus will always exist.  He's real if we believe in him.  I really believe that, even at 37, and I told him so.  I didn't want to go on too long, and he seemed comforted, a little.

Then I went back to my own bed and cried a little, too.

Feeling Christmas-y

Probably the best thing about me and Buddy's birthday is that it marks the beginning of the Christmas season in our house.  We usually get our tree and begin decorating the weekend after our birthday.  This year, our birthday was on the weekend and we got to spend part of our birthday afternoon decorating the tree.  

It was lovely.

Ummmm...and little stressful.  Far gone are the days of careful placement of ornaments, taking time to balance out colors and fill gaps.  Joey and I used to spend much longer decorating than we do now.  With three little helpers, we had the tree finished in 30 minutes!  And, we have to be super aware of what little fingers are grabbing at on the table.  Our Little People Nativity set only keeps small people occupied for a little bit.

Now we have our ornaments labeled kid safe and breakable.  We take out the kid ones first and get them laid out on the table so they can just decorate at will.  Our tradition is to start with each person choosing a favorite ornament to put on first.  Buddy's is his porcelain fire truck, a gift from Uncle Jared and Emmy.  I like the little blue teapot.  Joey always chooses the wooden Santa.  Cally and Ella usually choose something sparkly.  

We did very little rearranging of ornaments this year because the kids did such a beautiful job.  Most of what we did move was just to space out the decorations (or get them to use more than just one branch of the tree). 

 

When we tucked the kids in, we asked ourselves, do we leave the tree as it is or do we fix it up a bit?  We both agreed that it looks quite perfect as is.  And, I like that it actually looks like my kids decorated it.  Christmas is so special for them, after all.  It's so magical.

And this year it really is.  Cally really gets it.  Everywhere we go, she's thrilled at the sight of Christmas decorations - the big ones at the malls, outdoor displays, in coffee shops - she gasps everytime she sees them.  When we are out, she'll often shout, Mummy, I want to see the Christmas! or in other words, hurry up.  

Just this week, my mum recorded her singing her favorite carol of the season, Dingle Bell.  I'll try to get it on video to share.  It's so cute.

Hope your holiday season is taking shape, too.  We have five more school days to go!

In jeans

I used to wear jeans a lot.  But now, I admit, I love to dress up in skirts and dresses.

This is a typical casual look for me.  I love my skinny jeans.

It's funny, though, I hadn't realized how infrequently I wear them until I walked into class one day and my students practically all gasped, you're in jeans!

Another year older

Cally wanted to be in every picture of the birthday people.

But forget about that, I can't believe it's been 9 years since Joey and I made our way into the hospital to become parents for the first time.  I told Buddy the story last night before I tucked him in.  I still remember all the details.

I really do love our shared birthday.  I don't mind if the celebrations for his birthday overshadow mine.  And, really, they don't.  The special people in my life make sure of that.  Our day is special because it's two birthdays in one.  I can't imagine it any other way.  And, I love how Buddy tells people that he was my birthday present the year he was born.

He has been everyday since.