Best friends forever December 29, 2011

Hey sweetie,

I could look at you all day, you know?

I love how you wear my tee, swathed to the toes. You like to pretend you are mommy, and you trail me round the house with your wooden food set, because “It’s time for breakfast, baby. You need to eat your eggs and drink your coffee, you know? You want to tabao or eat here?”

 When you hold my hand to bring me to your playroom this morning, I realise again how small your fingers are, wrapped around mine. How long will you be small? Will you ever mind being mine?

You still leave a moustache of white after you drink your milk (your favourite cups are always mine, you funny girl), you still need me or daddy to read you three stories and sleep next to you, you still leave Lego bricks around for me to step on. And you still think I rock your world. “You are my best friend, Mommy!”

You are mine too, you know?

Love,

Your BFF

Daddy and Missy December 28, 2011

The huddy doesn’t bring Missy out on his own very much. For short errands, yes, but little of those ‘hanging out moments’, if you know what I mean.

And while I was out on a thanksgiving dinner, the two of them had such a lovely time together – eating ice cream with ‘small small marshmallows’, trying out clothes at H&M, posing for pictures to show Mommy, smiling and hugging each other like a dream daddy-daughter combi. They look like best friends, don’t you think?

This is my favourite photo from the lot. It makes me grin from inside out. How sweet are they together!

Christmas Twenty-eleven December 24, 2011

In my part of the world this Christmas season, the days are wet. Fat drops of rain are always spilling over, unannounced, unwelcomed. I left the kitchen window open one day and we came home to a massive puddle so messy it’s not funny. The weather’s often unkind, to me at least – I get caught in heavy rain more often than I care to count, my dresses are soaked to a darker colour even when I shrunk as much as I could under the brolly, my new Terra Plana shoes stained the colour of rain on cream. There isn’t the comfortable rhythmic pitter-pattering. Only the loud whooshing, droning of heavy downpour, then sudden whispering of a short drizzle, and back to beating down the concrete again. It’s so wet, this December.

Amidst it all, there was warmth. I know I’m blessed with much, but this year, this year beats it all. Friends send parcels from afar, packages big and small, presents they know I will love. They adorn me with food-primping gadgets, coffee-drinking pretties, handmade cards, the little odd things that I so like but always too reluctant to splurge on. So thoughtful, every little gift I’ve received. It always amazes me how well my friends know me, and how they care to indulge me. I have the most wonderful friends, I swear. And this space, oh this wonderful blog space that I’ve neglected so much. It brought me to the loveliest bunch of people, people I wouldn’t have crossed paths with if not for this. You know who you are – thank you.

The huddy and I made a pact to not exchange presents this year, because we’ve got so much it feels like a mini-sin to take more. So I took that sum to give a little. A little to the students who just have it harder. A little to children who need medical attention. A little to communities who could barely afford the basics. A little to a kid out there. There’s something magical about giving. It makes you want to give more, take less, and appreciate more the things I take.

So this is my Christmas. My heart is light, the homeland is bright. All is right.

Merry merry Christmas.

My note this day December 17, 2011

I’m up at an insane hour on a weekend. The morning’s cool, the sky a grey so typical of December days. I make plans to wrap, send, wash, cook, read – all before the missy opens her door and walks up to me drunkenly with tousled hair, wrapped up in her long onesie. Then I realise I’m no supermama and I should just soak in the morning in the slowest possible manner. I’m guilty of rushing, guilty of trying to do too many things all at once. So I blog with Latte at my feet, and surfing for recipes, and doing the laundry, and registering my AppleCare, and donating online and smiling. Ok, still trying to do too much, but these can’t wait, no?

This season, this year, I’m blessed with much, and giveback shouldn’t take a backseat. Somewhere out there, I hope the kids and folks are happier with the little we have given. A little each person makes a difference, so let’s do what we can to make this season just a little better for everyone? This season, may there be warmth and love in every household, in every heart.

Blessed day, blessed holidays to you.

Food fun December 17, 2011

My favourite food things::

<3 Eating yoghurt with a cookie as a spoon

<3 Digging out of the ice cream tub with my massive pink spoon

<3 Eating a cake and knowing there’s another for later

<3 Sipping coffee and hearing the timer ring to say cookies in the oven are ready for popping

<3 Punching bread out of little cutters and moulds

<3 Biting into a heart-shaped boiled egg

<3 Sitting at my dining table with fresh flowers and my teapot (I don’t even need to eat)

<3 Seeing missy’s eyes widen with joy as she notices what’s on her plate

What are yours?