'Twas The Week Before 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Apart from The Great Flood, the days leading up to Christmas and New Year was spent in relative calm.
First there was Sonny-boy's birthday.
It was just the three of us and we made a day out of it indoors. Beijing's not really kid friendly and it was just too cold to be out for extended periods of time. Sonny-boy wanted two things: a triple chocolate cake and an Indiana Jones Lego set. Mum took care of the cake ...
... while Dad, who should never be allowed in a toy store without supervision, came bearing not one but two Indy sets.
After cutting the cake, Hubs and Sonny-boy went about putting the pieces together. In reality, it was Hubs doing all of the work and I suspect he secretly enjoys it. In keeping with the theme, I put on the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull movie and that's how the afternoon was spent. Three and a half hours later, Hubs was still not done. Set #2 will have to wait till tomorrow. Talk about value for money!
Birthday Boy got to pick the dinner venue. It came as a relief to Birthday Boy's parents that he chose La Mansarde, a French restaurant we regularly visit.
We not only took a break during Christmas, we took a break from it as well. We didn't put up a tree, there were no decorations, save for the Santa caps I made all of us wear on Christmas Day itself, no festive baking or cooking. We even skipped gift giving. Allow me to say the entire exercise was so liberating. It was the most relaxing Christmas ever. No mad rush, no precision military planning, no nothing. Although I love going the whole nine yards, sometimes it's nice to not do anything and just be.
We did however, go out for a Christmas meal (one has to eat, afterall). We went to Mare, the Spanish restaurant we celebrated Hubs' birthday in. Here's paying tribute to our host country:
A silk jacket in crimson with gold chrysanthemums finished off with velvet trimmings and cloisonne buttons. I also had on the matching velvet silk flowy pants. Hubs was spiffy in a black suit and turtleneck while Sonny-boy was in a festive navy blue, white and red argyll sweater and jeans. And his Santa cap.
New Year was just as nondescript. We'd eaten out so much in between the two weeks I don't even remember where we went to for New Year's. But what I do remember was welcoming it at home in our sleepwear, lots of hugs and kisses, wine and kid's champagne.
The Dutchess of Cookalot whipped this up at 8:49 pm
