圣诞快乐

A blessed Christmas to everyone! It's a frigid but sparking day in Montreal today, meaning the sun is shining bright, light is bouncing off all the ice on the buildings and the streets, humidity is at 98% (but with temperature at minus 8C, it isn't anything like 98% humidity in Singapore...), and no snow in sight. We spent Christmas in Chinatown today which was really kind of strange, but with the rest of the city shut until noon tomorrow for Boxing Day sales, this little enclave is the only place anyone can go for any semblance of activity. It's like Chinese New Year in Singapore, except almost no where in Singapore is open over Chinese New Year, even Orchard Road.

To make this an even more surreal Christmas, we're having a 10-course Chinese meal for dinner instead of turkey or ham. Apparently, most people in North America don't believe in eating out over the holidays so the restaurants take the opportunity to close for that one day in a year. The only places open are Chinese ones, ever ready are they to capitalize on what others are willing to give up. Well, they then close for a good week over the Lunar New Year, so this makes up for that I guess.

Peking duck or roast turkey, Jude and I are just glad we're spending Christmas with family. Last year, we were in Florida with his aunt who owns a thoroughbred farm in Ocala and this year here with his uncle. As international students, it's rare to be able to spend holidays with family every year unless we go all the way home, which we can't afford of course, so this a wonderful blessing in itself.

We did call home though and it always aches a little to hear them and feel them so close, yet be so far away. Like so many people, holidays are the worst times for me to be away from home, especially Christmas. It's a big event for my family- shopping for all my cousins, Christmas Eve dinner with my parents and sisters, opening presents at midnight (to jazz Christmas carols and Bailey's on the rocks- don't ask me why...), and the traditional Christmas lunch with the entire family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces and all...). We were supposed to go home this Christmas since Jude hasn't been back in almost a year and a half, but the tickets were just too expensive to make a 10-day trip worth the while. Hopefully we'll wise up enough next year and do what every other foreign student does- buy their year-end plane tickets home in April and save US$600 in the process.

Anyway, to everyone out there, have a wonderful rest of the year! We have 5 days left to be naughty before we start making ultimately futile New Year resolutions to be good and sensible with our bodies, minds and money; so indulge in those guilty pleasures while you can- double servings of carbohydrates in one meal, a Farrelly brothers movie marathon, pedicure+manicure+ facial in one appointment, and blowing that credit card limit. Go knock yourselves out!