Not too long ago, more like a month or so; we i.e. Jeannie and I started with Christmas preparations. It was more Jeannie than me.
For starters, she put up Christmas trees, yes…plural in “tree”. Not one tree, not two trees, but three trees. There were decorations in various parts of the house that was put up earlier on.
Laura, her boyfriend, Praga; Jeannie and I had a nice pre-Christmas dinner at Chili’s. The food was good – we enjoyed it. I had a Margarita for the evening. It was kinda of o.k., could have been better. It was a good evening.
The next evening, we. meaning Laura, Praga, Jeannie and I; were at St Thomas More Church, Subang Jaya, for mass. We made sure we were early, especially to avoid a possible downpour of rain (it has been raining almost everyday. Reverend Father Simon La Brooy presided at mass. The time at church was wonderful.
One of the traditional events that we are involved in and participate is the gathering of siblings and their families at mum’s and dad’s home in Klang for dinner on Christmas evening. I think we have been doing this for as long as I can remember.
Shirley, Sarah and her boyfriend, King; were the first to arrive. We (Laura & Praga, Jeannie and myself) were the next to be at the scene. A few minutes later, everyone else started arriving.
There was a wide spread of food, including lamb and shepherd’s pie. We also had Christmas fruitcake flown in all the way from Canada, courtesy of Ray and Susan.
Front row, right to left: Praga (Laura’s boyfriend), Laura (Jeannie’s and my daughter), Jeannie, Shirley, myself.
Middle row, seated; right to left: Susan (Raymond Arnold’s wife), Uma (Malcolm’s wife), Dad, Mum, Mabel (Terence’s wife), Sarah (Shirley’s daughter).
Third row, standing; right to left: Raymond Arnold (Behind Susan), Jay (Ashley’s husband), Ashley & Alana (both are Terence’s and Mabel’s daughters), Terence, Malcolm and King.
The youngest and the eldest of brothers.
The Three brothers👆
Christmas won’t be Christmas at the Atkinsons if there was no caroling. Malcolm and Jay took the lead. Everyone whipped out their phone song sheets. How convenient. No real flipping of paper pages unless you add the soundlike flipping of pages sound to your whatsapp thread when you search for song lyrics.
There was a mix of Christmas carols and non-Christmas carols – favourites.
Christmas seemed a bit different this time round. It seemed brighter, with lots more laughter and joy. Yes, we are all slightly older this time round, probably wiser, too. Christmas with family is an integral part of our lives, I guess. We remember Jen and Nigel, who were with us in spirit; too.
Christmas with family…
