December: Reaching the End of 2020

December is a happy month for me. I celebrate my mom's birthday, National Mother's Day, some of my friends' birthdays, and one of my closest friend's wedding. Also, I have my Christmas holiday! Oh yay, that is the most exciting part!

It's been a while I did not post any documentation here. While we are reaching 2020, I want to close this 2020 with some documentations. On mom's birthday, we did have a simple celebration. Not a fancy cake, just a traditional cake that she loves. We celebrated before dinner and I rushed to continue tutoring again. Haha. Some photos of years ago appeared on my IG archive and my Google Photos. I love to see how mom ages beautifully. She remains beautiful no matter how many kg she lost and gained. I am grateful that she is still healthy until now. I cannot lie that she does face some degeneration issues. However, she manages live actively and still can do what she likes and wants. I am truly grateful for shat. I did request for Chinese characters for her birthday cake, but the bakery was not able to do it. Mom is fond of Chinese characters but English is not that bad too. She can understand some simple phrases. We had a family photo on the dining table. Our dining table is indeed small, but I always love it. All the unnecessary and deep conversation happened there and it will be always a sentimental furniture for me. On the wall, we have my sister's embroidery hoops. She works on them with her own hands. They are beautiful, aren't they? This year, we can't visit restaurants or hang out at public sites. Mom also agreed not to dine-in at any restaurants as we are still facing this pandemic. We had mom's homecook. Nothing is so special but everything is as warm as it is. We are still together, healthy and safe. That's more important than anything

Ah, now I remember why I rarely post any photos here. Since there were so many scams using someone else's pictures, I was quite anxious to post photos here. Even I lock my Instagram to private because there was a time when some accounts with inappropriate contents kept following my account. It was a bit scary for me. I think I will just post some not-so-confidential photos here. I mean, the non-living things. Haha. What a weird me.

Then, on the last working days in 2020, I am grateful that God pointed this environment for me. A warm place like a second home. We did not have potluck like previous year's tradition, but we did have a warm closing. Our superior bought some cakes to cheer with us. My dear colleague, Beau, shared her beautiful hand-drawn bookmark and cookies with us. Maggie, Laoshi and I shared some super delicious food. I was beyond blessed to meet a lot of kind colleagues here. I literally have a pleasant break.

Christmas tree with handmade decorations from students and parents

Handmade cookies and bookmark by Biu Biu

Sweet gesture from our superior

On 21st Dec, we celebrated Winter Solstice. We almost missed it because Mom thought it was on 22nd Dec. A neighbour shared us blue and purple food colouring. Thank you, auntie! The colours were beautiful! We never used blue before. Ah, we did. I think last year we used blue pea, but we only had little blue pea flowers so the colour was not that vibrant. 

The yellow is from Nutri Sari!

Some trial errors for colour mixing

Kyaaa ! I love the vibrant colours!

Mom used to boil Gula Melaka with ginger but this year, we use the white sugar because we want to see the vibrant colours. The taste was not as good as Gula Melaka, but we still love it! I shared some with Laoshi a day before she headed back to her hometown.

Overall, I really enjoy this December despite all the Covid-19 issues. I hope everyone remains safe and healthy while we are moving to 2021. I'm super duper ready for 2021 !!!