Merry Christmas to you!

Merry Christmas to each and everyone of you! :)

A year has come and gone, and this is the second christmas this blog has celebrated. Ah... I love Christmas not for the gifts and lights but for the joyous celebration of the beloved One. The One I love the most in the entire world! Yea... and I went for my parish's Christmas midnight mass too. The entire church was packed like no body's business. Was with Mum, lil bro and sis and of course, JF and his mum.

Right after mass, we went to Ros and Charles' place for Amplify's Christmas Party! Wow, the people at Amplify - they gotta be the most fun bunch ever. The party was a blast and I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

I got some pretty cute and heartwarming gifts which I have to share with you!

First, check out the photo above. Isn't it oh-so-cute? It's meant to be a chocolate cupcake topped with cherries! I love it. Well it's actually a towel but heck I'm never gonna use it. It's a gift by Winston, my fellow foodie-in-crime. Haha we're both as crazy about health and fitness as we are about food so it's a perfect balance. Thanks sooo much Winston! I look forward to more 'lunch-ners' with ya! ;)

Ooooo and what I'm going to show you next will literally blow you away....

Are you ready?

You sure?

Okay, here goes....

The best present ever...

IS:



A personalised wine bottle! Geez... I was speechless when I saw it.

I was so touched as well. Utterly beautiful and thoughtful and creative. How can anyone top that?!

The lovely gift was by my two dearest friends Leonard and Cassilda. Both are also leaders in Amplify (the youth ministry I'm in) and I love them to bits. They inspire me and they make me wanna serve with so much more fervour.

Here's the entire bottle:



Really! How cool is that?

If you're wondering what it says: Positive, resolute, go getter, generous. A fine friend lovingly celebrated by Leonard and Cassilda. Produce of heaven.

I'm never gonna open the wine. Well maybe 20 years later... haha. or I could even make it like an heirloom :p

Thanks Leo and Cass, I thank God for bringing both of you into my life!

Gosh, the party was swell and we had a gift exchange - only thing that it was a gift exchange with a twist. Totally different from the usual way. It's called the Evil Santa I think. First, everyone picks a number, and that number signifies the order by which you will go up to the heap of parcels and pick out one. But here's the catch, anyone can choose to 'steal' the others present. Everyone has to open their presents in front of all, and if someone else after you likes your present better than the one they picked out, they can swap it with you, regardless of whether you approve or not. Ha!

Evil ain't it? My number was 22 and I did exchange a bookmark for a Print notebook but someone after me 'stole' it from me! :( Haha, but anyway it was a fun game. I ended up with a South Park shirt which is much too big for my liking. Probably giving it to Dad or Bro.

Ahhh... the party lasted until the wee hours of the morning and I reached home around 6:30am. Imagine that! I slept until 1pm and here I am blogging all about it. Also brought home loads of food. It was a potluck and some brought fried rice (by Winston... and it was uber yum!), pasta, shepherd's pie, salad, tiramisu (this one rocked.. made by Clarence!). Yea, I'm sure you are also wondering what I brought...

I made some finger food:



This was made using the ready-made mini croustades from Ikea. Filled them in with crabmeat, corn, and flavoured with mushroom. It disappeared quite fast! Which I guess, is a good sign.. haha.

And then, there's the tuna puffs:



I have loads to say about this one. I made everything from scratch! Yes, even the choux pastry puffs. My my, it was my first attempt at making choux pastry and I was so relieved it turned out all right. I will blog about in my next post.

You know, I'm starting to like making finger food. It's so fun and easy to eat. Besides, I will have to learn more about making finger food or as the French call it: hor douvres. Especially since I'm now the F&B head of Amplify. Yea, I crossed over from Publicity, realised that I'd be much happier preparing food each week for people. So from now on, I'll be busy on Fridays before Amplify Fridays start at 8pm. We're gonna have this cookie and milk thingie which is going to mark the start of Cafe @ Amplify. Cool huh? I'm seriously really excited and can't wait for it to start. More about that another time.

Ahhhh... what a christmas this was. Well it's still christmas! I have lots to be thankful for. God has been very kind to me. I feel really blessed. To have a family, a roof over my head, and such great friends.

There you have it, my christmas, all summarised in 1 post!

Merry Christmas to you once again and God bless!