What is it about December that always makes me want to compress the years of my life into a neat little package, glossing over all those heartbreak and pain and misery, to reminisce about the 'good old days' as though everything was a bed of roses with nary a thorn?
Perhaps it's the festive mood of the month. School's out and happy kids are everywhere, sales and year-end discounts abound, the weather's a lot cooler, it's vacation time for most, bonus (of the $$$ kind) time for many and 'taking the plunge' time for some..
Without a doubt, Yuletide gives December a distinctive flavour of its own. Whatever one's colour or creed, there's something comfortably familiar about a beautifully symmetrical fir tree adorned with twinkling lights and shimmering baubles.
Add to the image oversized fur-trimmed stockings, jolly old Santas carrying sackfuls of presents, mellifluous voices singing the carols, stuffed turkeys with all their trimmings, stollens and cakes and cookies and candies....
Perhaps too because December signals a change of guard; the old year, stale and musty by now, is wrapping up to make way for the new one which, as always, is chock-a-block with promises, good intentions and hope.
Even without all its festive frills, December holds vivid memories for me for it's the month when my eldest and youngest were born, 10 years apart almost to the day; Naj on Dec 12, Awwa on Dec 11.
Whilst Naj greeted the world sedately in University College Hospital, London, in the winter of 1975, Awwa arrived yelling her head off via C-section in SJMC, Subang Jaya, in 1985.
Both were welcome diversions; he, from the biting physical cold of winter, she, from the emotional chill slowly seeping through. Children envelop you with unconditional love, and it's this love that makes life worth living.
This December sees the beginning, once again, of my tenure as the Abus' self-appointed bibik (house help) now that bona fide bibik has returned to Jogjakarta after 10 years of domestic service in this country.
The idea of taking up 'arms' once again to attack household dirt and grime isn't pleasing at all, I must say. But I shall not complain, even with my right knee already wonky and the left following suit, my grip weakening and pins and needles aplenty plaguing my fingers.
Instead I'll try my level best to be upbeat, by looking at all those scrubbing and mopping and hoovering in a positive way - it's exercise, a word long absent from my vocabulary.
Tomorrow (Dec 4) the family is off to Ipoh to attend the wedding of a niece. I am looking forward to this occasion because it means meeting up with the paternal side of my very extended Megat clan.
Sarah's the second child but the first in her family to wed. At times like this, my thoughts are with her late father, my younger brother Megat Wahab, Ab as we called him, who passed away three years ago at the relatively young age of 48.
If he is still with us today, Ab would, without a doubt, be the happiest, proudest man alive to receive his first menantu (son/daughter-in-law). May your soul rest in peace, my dear brother.
I was informed that our relatives from Narathiwat have already arrived in Ipoh for the kenduri, a rarity indeed because they hardly venture out of Thailand, thus not many of us have met them.
Frankly, I'm very excited about meeting them for the first time. A dream realised it definitely will be to connect with my Thai kin. Insyaallah, with the grace of Allah swt, tomorrow it will happen.
December is shaping up to be an eventful month although I can't say for sure where we would be heading holiday-wise. There's nothing on the cards just yet despite all the hoo-haa. But hope springs eternal..
Perhaps it's the festive mood of the month. School's out and happy kids are everywhere, sales and year-end discounts abound, the weather's a lot cooler, it's vacation time for most, bonus (of the $$$ kind) time for many and 'taking the plunge' time for some..
Without a doubt, Yuletide gives December a distinctive flavour of its own. Whatever one's colour or creed, there's something comfortably familiar about a beautifully symmetrical fir tree adorned with twinkling lights and shimmering baubles.
Add to the image oversized fur-trimmed stockings, jolly old Santas carrying sackfuls of presents, mellifluous voices singing the carols, stuffed turkeys with all their trimmings, stollens and cakes and cookies and candies....
Perhaps too because December signals a change of guard; the old year, stale and musty by now, is wrapping up to make way for the new one which, as always, is chock-a-block with promises, good intentions and hope.
Even without all its festive frills, December holds vivid memories for me for it's the month when my eldest and youngest were born, 10 years apart almost to the day; Naj on Dec 12, Awwa on Dec 11.
Whilst Naj greeted the world sedately in University College Hospital, London, in the winter of 1975, Awwa arrived yelling her head off via C-section in SJMC, Subang Jaya, in 1985.
Both were welcome diversions; he, from the biting physical cold of winter, she, from the emotional chill slowly seeping through. Children envelop you with unconditional love, and it's this love that makes life worth living.
This December sees the beginning, once again, of my tenure as the Abus' self-appointed bibik (house help) now that bona fide bibik has returned to Jogjakarta after 10 years of domestic service in this country.
The idea of taking up 'arms' once again to attack household dirt and grime isn't pleasing at all, I must say. But I shall not complain, even with my right knee already wonky and the left following suit, my grip weakening and pins and needles aplenty plaguing my fingers.
Instead I'll try my level best to be upbeat, by looking at all those scrubbing and mopping and hoovering in a positive way - it's exercise, a word long absent from my vocabulary.
Tomorrow (Dec 4) the family is off to Ipoh to attend the wedding of a niece. I am looking forward to this occasion because it means meeting up with the paternal side of my very extended Megat clan.
Sarah's the second child but the first in her family to wed. At times like this, my thoughts are with her late father, my younger brother Megat Wahab, Ab as we called him, who passed away three years ago at the relatively young age of 48.
If he is still with us today, Ab would, without a doubt, be the happiest, proudest man alive to receive his first menantu (son/daughter-in-law). May your soul rest in peace, my dear brother.
I was informed that our relatives from Narathiwat have already arrived in Ipoh for the kenduri, a rarity indeed because they hardly venture out of Thailand, thus not many of us have met them.
Frankly, I'm very excited about meeting them for the first time. A dream realised it definitely will be to connect with my Thai kin. Insyaallah, with the grace of Allah swt, tomorrow it will happen.
December is shaping up to be an eventful month although I can't say for sure where we would be heading holiday-wise. There's nothing on the cards just yet despite all the hoo-haa. But hope springs eternal..
2 comments:
Mmmm...Nice entry and I am sure you are looking forward to the khenduri and long lost relative from Thailand..
Have a good trip and take care
tq wan. now getting ready to leave.. :D
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