Christmas 2020

Only for those really interested to hear how we speak as a family (mixture of English, Portuguese, Cantonese, and some Patua, maybe) (I don't recall if there was much Patua spoken in the videos I'll be posting), this is a video-heavy post.

I have 0 video editing skills, so these are all candid and unedited.

First I have the preparations we made for the party. I explain a little bit of what we have. The "cake" I mentioned is a Christmas Cake, I guess. I don't know if it has a proper name, but we have always just called it "Cake". Mom has one age-old Cake that she has kept for maybe 6 years (but I like to joke it's around 35 years), and she takes it out of the freezer every year, pours brandy over it, let it soak, slices a couple slices out to serve, then wraps up the remaining and keeps it in the freezer again.

( More videos and photos and chit chat )

Aaaannndd... finally, my presents haul! Not a bad haul this year. Almost everyone gave bath stuff (I guess it's safe LOL). The funny one was when Cousin Jorge gave out the Victoria's Secret bag, we were all laughing. "You seriously aren't giving us lingerie?" We joked. He replied, "yeah if the size doesn't fit, talk to me!" LOL. It's a set of bath shower and lotion stuff only though. I also got some cash in those envelops, but nowadays we are all going cashless, so I'll probably just go deposit them in the bank after the Chinese New Year.

And before I close, I hope everyone had an enjoyable break, be it a Christmas break, winter break, another type of holiday that I don't know of break! Have a fabulous weekend!

(Belated) Friday Five 25-December-2020

A day late, I'm sorry! But this way I manage to catch both Friday Fives! If anyone knows of other Friday Fives, please let me know!

These are questions from the thefridayfive

1) What is your favorite December holiday food?
Tough. But I'm trying to think of something distinctly Macanese. And because this year, my Dad did not make it, and my Mom did not buy it, so we didn't have it, so I'm kind of missing it! It's the Aluar (I know it as Aluá) which here's a neat little link with a photo. http://www.lusitanousa.org/heritage-and-culture/macanese-cuisine/aluar/

As I know it, it used to be an old lady that made it. It's really hard work to constantly be mixing that, and it turns sticky and tough. My Dad started to try making it a few years back and by 2 years ago he managed to replicate the taste (but not quite the texture, his recipe was still a little soft). So he made some and Mom bought some and we liked to compare. This year though, he was just too busy to make it, so we didn't make it. I have no idea why Mom didn't buy it though. Argh... I really want to have a bite of it now.

2) What is your favorite December holiday beverage?
Again, Dad was too busy this year so we didn't make any Eggnog. My Dad has a killer recipe and I really like it. So this year, without home-made eggnog, we bought a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream as back up, but no one opened the bottle, so we didn't have it yet. Might have a shot of it on 31-December during the countdown.

3) What is your favorite December holiday song?
I know most of the classics as I was in the School Christmas Choir back in primary. I guess Rudolph the Red Nose Deer is always cute. Though I don't know why this year the stanza of "Faaaaaallll on your kneeeeees..... oh hearrrrr the Angels' voices...." kept looping in my brain... LOL I didn't even really hear it play out this year.

4) What is your favorite December holiday tradition?
I used to love the Christmas presents exchange, but as I wrote before, now that I'm part of the gift-giving adult group, I don't really like it. I know gifts-exchange should be a happy thing, but it's more a hassle with my family nowadays. There's making my Christmas budget, categorizing people into groups (eg. Guy cousins, girl cousins, guy cousins' wives/girlfriends, guy cousins' kids, aunts, uncles, parents, etc) and getting 20-something presents is just a pain. And the actual act of gift exchange is just time consuming...

I do like decorating the Christmas cookies with my Dad though! I also managed to buy my Dad's baking bible (German) but in English. It's exactly the same, just in English, it will arrive sometime mid-January. So maybe next year I can actually make some cookies and alleviate his workload.

5) What is the one thing you will miss most this December because of the pandemic?
There's really not much of missing stuff for us because in Macau the situation is pretty much controlled, so we are still allowed to have group parties. The only thing maybe is actually Christmas travel. Two years ago we went to Germany in end-of-November and managed to catch the first waves of Christmas celebrations there (markets/etc), this year it's no travel at all....

And the following questions are from F.riday5.com

1. What did you learn in 2020?
I didn't really learn anything... I didn't enroll and any courses or classes, so this year is a rather wasted year in terms of learning stuff.

2. What do you regret doing (or not doing) in 2020?
Well, with the pandemic going on, there's gonna be regret of not going on more holidays in 2019, I suppose. I probably should have enrolled into some class or another to learn some stuff, I guess.

3. What are you proud of doing in 2020?
Ooh, we went up the Macau Tower. That was an adventure in itself! I may have screamed bloody murder, but I WALKED IT!

4. Who did you get to know better in 2020?
Oh, me, myself and I. I believe I can be considered a saint, compared to most people. However, I think I should learn to be a little more selfish and be kinder to myself. I push myself too hard sometimes.

5. What do you hope to accomplish in the remaining days of 2020?
There's not too many days left, and I don't want to say anything that's hard to accomplish. Let's just say, I hope to read one more book before the year ends.