Merry Christmas
December 26th, 2008
i was a field mouse hiding at the bottom shelf of the bookcase, clutching a tome that felt larger than life, shaking with fear. the world swiveled around me in curvy waves of pounding feet and harsh fingernails, and i felt like the whole of Selfridges was going to swallow me alive. Gerrard lay forgotten on the floor somewhere and i would probably never see him again. remember the day he came to me, delivered into my hands unsuspectingly in a little jewelry packet? all this time later, i lost him and didnt even realize it until i missed the familiar thud it would make against my heart. an hour ago i was running helter skelter through a park behind Bond Street and laughing with the taste of chilly London air on my tongue, but as i crouched there in Selfridges amongst the towering stacks of books, i felt truly alone. actually, i’m so sick of Selfridges. i’ve been there for days on end now. and tomorrow (actually, in three hours), i’m going to be meeting some friends there for the Boxing Day sales, but i am optimistically relegating the whole jostling, elbowing and snatching shindig to the category of spectator sports. i also cant do the queue thing. queues drive me up the wall; there’s just too much foot-tapping and fidgeting on my part to be had. and then there’s the dangerous thinking that is inevitable as one waits. right now, all i want to do is not think. coz i’m on holiday. this new-found aversion to thinking is precisely the reason why i’m even here. ah, life. ah, london. so full of pompous cupcakes and prickly christmas trees.
merry belated christmas, everyone :)
how did you guys spend christmas? please entertain me with lovely stories of hot chocolate, crazy xmas eve parties, kisses san mistletoe, church service, gift exchanges or turkey from Mr Ho’s Fine Foods .. :) or even lovely stories of none of the above.
as for me, i ushered in christmas day with a congregation of crazy malaysians cramped into a little enclave in Butler’s Wharf – we had pizza, played Pictionary and passed around a strange-looking thing called a beer bong. then i hibernated until 4pm and woke up to milk chocolate digestive biscuits. watched Before Sunrise in intervals. stuffed myself with turkey stuffing later on at night. talked all night long. took a long shower with my favorite papaya soap from Body Shop. quite perfect.
some pictures:
a stand at Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park where i bought hot blackcurrant. Ribena :)
toffee apples, something i’d only ever read about in books up till this christmas. i’m still not exactly sure how to eat them though… i stupidly bit very hard into one and almost broke my jaw in the process. so i ended up sticking the apple into the oven to get a gooey sugary coating instead. that was a lot nicer.
my santa hat, which i later found out was actually a santa stocking. quite embarrassing.
a nice huge christmas eve bratwurst. happiness! this came with mulled wine, which is supposed to be a christmas favorite, but was kinda awful-tasting in my coarse and unrefined opinion :\
crazy malaysians! spot the beer bong
big floating snowman in Carnaby Street
outside Selfridges
33 Comments Add your own
1. irene | December 26th, 2008 at 1:12 am
merry xmas!! ;)
2. IcedNyior | December 26th, 2008 at 1:38 am
havent popped by here in ages. Glad to read that you’re doing well
Have a very (belated?) merry Christmas and a great year ahead
3. kennysia | December 26th, 2008 at 1:56 am
u lost gerrard again! :( last time was in kuching, or was it kota kinabalu.
i spent my xmas creating a whole new layout for my blog (which i realised have been using the same old layout since i started blogging in 2005)
4. Michelle | December 26th, 2008 at 2:28 am
Come to Melbourne! They have good bratwurst in Victoria Market!
My Christmas was a bit mundane. Had dim sum in KL and one of the loveliest things i had was cream of avocado dessert. Such a delight. your christmas seems much interesting than mine. :D
i was hoping to have turkey but my mom dislikes the texture of the meat.
:(
i guess i have to wait till i get back to melbourne where i do all the cooking.
i have a papaya body scrub from body shop! it reminds me of papaya milk drink. :D
5. Patricia | December 26th, 2008 at 2:42 am
I spent christmas stuffing maggi mee into my mouth as i watched Congo. it’s a movie and i woke up for commercial breaks. & I reread books i’ve read for the umpteenth time. overall christmas in a little town in johor is just like another day :)
bet yours was great ^^
6. Alicia | December 26th, 2008 at 3:02 am
I SEE EMILY YOON!!!!! =)
7. carol | December 26th, 2008 at 3:37 am
omg joe eng han valerie voon adrian aaaaahhhhhhhhh i miss you guys!!!!
okay come i tell you what i did.
i spent the whole day with liz and the ATU scholars we walked a lot around central park took tons of photos went around AND THEN WE HAD AN ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT STEAMBOAT BUFFET IN FLUSHING. then 2 of them walked me home at like 3am hoho so nice kan.
eh su ann your green printed halter top very nice.
8. KY | December 26th, 2008 at 3:55 am
Merry X’mas to you Lim Su Ann we had party again! :D
9. abby | December 26th, 2008 at 4:56 am
how absolutely lovely! i would love to spend Christmas in London too…
10. Angel | December 26th, 2008 at 8:30 am
is that lai voon kiat i see in the group picture of those crazy msians? :)
11. sue anne | December 26th, 2008 at 8:43 am
zomg, tai pau~ you look GOOOORGEOUS in that pic with the floating snowman! jealous =.=
12. fatcat | December 26th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Ahhh London…
I spent Christmas morning finishing up my holiday hmwk. How nice, right? :))
Then I cooked chicken chops and potatoes for dinner but made the worst mistake by drizzling a really generous amount of cranberry sauce I made over the chicken. IT WAS SO SUPER SOUR. Everyone died after dinner.
13. wenqi | December 26th, 2008 at 9:35 am
i miss u very much limsuann! my xmas was spent eating at family friends’ houses wtf.
i miss u. :(
14. melissa | December 26th, 2008 at 9:36 am
I spent christmas moving house, which isn’t much of a christmas really. :P
rushed over US apps for the umpteenth time, had dinner with the family (turkey-less, we went for thai food instead).
then I got an offer from Oxford University. :D
am currently anxiously awaiting the arrival of the missing people from le old high school gang to come back from Melbourne and Perth, so that we can re-celebrate Christmas the way we usually do.
Merry Christmas pinkpau! Looks like you had a fantabulous one in London. ;)
15. mac | December 26th, 2008 at 9:41 am
We had the whole family over on christmas eve, had a roast turkey and roast beef with mashed potato and roast potato… wine, dine … then we sang christmas carols with huiying playing the guitar and shao-ru singing. on the first day of christmas … RELAX and have leftover turkey in a sandwich … yum yum … then we flambed a christmas pudding with vodka and had ice cream with it. just now on the second day of christmas finishing the trifle … bliss!!!!
you look like you are having fun yourself there in London … good for you!
16. Kiran | December 26th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Merry Xmas! Christmas was great here in Florida! Spent lovely time with hubby and friends. We would be going for red tag sale today, it would be fun! Red tag sale is something similar to black friday – have fun!
17. pC | December 26th, 2008 at 11:18 am
ah, london. of roquefort crisps and feathertops.
18. sue | December 26th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
im glad u got to go to winter wonderland! Mulled wine isnt my kinda thing too but the bratwurst was good.
Selfridges. The queue today was crazy. What recession ah? Bags strewn everywhere, empty shelves, it was like primark =.=
I hope u enjoyed london though. Have a happy new year!
19. Chriso | December 26th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Belated Christmas to you and a have a Happy New Year ahead pinkpau :)
20. lishun | December 26th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
i spent christmas at a friend’s open house because my parents abandoned me and went to genting for their anniversary. 40 years and going strong! hehe. then i was supposed to go out for dinner with my sister’s family, but the restaurant was fully booked (i committed a huge faux pas for not booking earlier, sigh) and my niece fell asleep before dinnertime and it looked like it was gonna rain…so we stayed in, tapau-ed wendy’s, watched some telly and amused ourselves by trying to make my niece laugh when she woke up.
it was a good christmas!
anyhoo…re: beer bong photograph. that guy in the cream sweater sitting beside you…is his name jonathan lim by any chance?
21. chm | December 26th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Merry belated Christmas Pau! was watchin Ip Man on Christmas Eve. bloody good. den went runnin around Jln Sultan Ismail wif cans of spray kakaka.
22. Music Magi | December 26th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Merry Christmas pinkpau!!! May God continue to bless you richly in His love and grace…have fun in London…New York…and wherever else you may be!!! Go on…and jet-set around the world!!! woo hoo! or rather…ho ho ho!!!
23. Teddy | December 27th, 2008 at 12:11 am
Happy Belated Xmas XD Hope you had a blast during Xmas
As for sharing Xmas experience… most may find mine quite sad… As I spent the whole day with my friend at Starbucks teaching him stuff for next week Final EOS 3 exam, and then after that we went for a nice warm Christmas dinner at night in Manhattan FM…
But Christmas is about giving, and helping out a close friend and making him feel more confident for the coming exam is indeed… a different kind of satisfying Christmas :D
Merry Christmas, and have a fantastic new year ^^
24. mystique | December 27th, 2008 at 2:22 am
helou and merry christmas!!
i spent it studying. :(
25. kreazi | December 27th, 2008 at 2:51 am
Merry Christmas Su Ann~ My 2 close buddies and I had a simple steamboat with white wine n red wine at her house… otherwise, it’s a pretty normal day to me, apart from another bout of emotional meltdown…
26. clem | December 27th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
watched Mamma Mia the musical in Kuala Lumpur on christmas night with the family. =)
27. Albert Ng | December 27th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
OMG it’s Emily!
28. Simon Seow | December 27th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Was at KY’s party on Christmas Eve, all those alcohol can really make ppl do crazy things. Went to my nephew’s birthday party on Christmas’s night.
29. very damp and shreded pinkshirtz | December 28th, 2008 at 3:43 am
i don’t understand how i often turn december into the worst month of my life. Im here facing breakup and family+financial state, whilst my partner whisk away in Rome. how do i manage to be all this miserable every december.
Care to enlighten?
30. yerdeh | December 28th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
selfridges was surprisingly empty this year! I expected worse, though this is my first xmas in london out of the three years i’ve been here!! r u still going to be around for NYE?
31. Zeek | December 29th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
hello SuAnn!
Merry Belated Christmas! hope ur enjoying yourself in London. I dont know if you have Pret Sandwiches in NYC, if not, do try it in London. Its a must try. Well, christmas this year had been great. Had a few dinners catching up with friends at some interesting restaurant at Changkat Bukit Bintang and end our night with a jazz session at No Black Tie.
32. carrie | December 30th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Wait for your updates about the london trip….
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
33. lalaland | February 5th, 2010 at 12:31 am
hi im going to London in 2weeks, do u know where to get pretty and reasonable-priced souvenirs? thanks :)
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