Thanksgiving

.
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a harvest festival. Traditionally, it's a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. ... Today, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. Thanksgiving dinner is held on this day, usually as a gathering of family members. (Source: Wikipedia)



Having lived in the US previously, Thanksgiving is a day which I now look forward to celebrating. In the US it is celebrated today!! It reminds me to give thanks for all my wonderful blessings:

- the good health my family enjoys,

- the job my husband has, - that puts food on the table, that pays the bills, that allows us all a little luxury when we want it, that still allows me to be home full time with the children - (too many of his friends have been retrenched).

- my children!! The joy and laughter (and sometimes heartache) that they give me. And this year especially ~ the good grade which my oldest got in her exams,

- the good friends that I have made: from school, work and blogging, AND

- a kind, generous and loving husband!!
:)


And special greetings go out on this day to my good friend - BP
- who celebrates her birthday today! May she be filled with God's generous blessings today and always!

Happy Thanksgiving!!
.

Travel

For as long as I can remember, everytime we travel, we like to go free and easy. Hubby and I do not like to follow conducted tours. We would purchase a copy of a guide book to where we are travelling to, and find our way around. We find that it is more interesting, and leisurely. And if we like a place, we can stay as long as we like, or scoot off if it does not appeal to us. And I sure hate those 6am morning calls!!

The last time we took a guided tour was some 6 years ago to China, but that was part of a school group with my children attending immersion classes, and most of the people on that tour were friends from school, so that was different, and was actually quite enjoyable.

For our year-end vacation this year, however, we are taking a tour! Gasp! Our destination was decided on based on a family vote, and we are off to Tokyo and Hokkaido! Since Hokkaido is a place that is new to hubby and me, we do not speak Japanese, and with the winter weather conditions, we thought we had better follow a tour. Being unfamiliar with the place and having to drive in the ice and snow can be quite dangerous! The tour that we found, fortunately has a number of free and easy days! So, I think we should be not be too harried this time round.

I am so looking forward to the food there. And the skiing and onsen too. Tokyo and Hokkaido, here we come!!

Latest Christmas Carol

Not sure if you have heard the latest Christmas Carol for 2008.

It is sung to the tune of Santa Claus is Coming to Town.



You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry
You'd better keep cash
I'm telling you why:
Recession is coming to town.

It's hitting you once,
It's hitting you twice
It doesn't care if you've been careful and wise
Recession is coming to town

It's worthless if you've got shares
It's worthless if you've got bonds
It's safe when you've got cash in hand
So keep cash for goodness sake, HEY

You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry
You'd better keep cash
I'm telling you why:
Recession is coming to town!

Finance products are confusing
Finance products are so vague
The banks make you bear the cost of risk
So keep out for goodness sake, OH

You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry
You'd better keep cash
I'm telling you why:
Recession is coming to town...

Graduation

Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the associated ceremony, where students become Graduates. Source:Wikipedia

In my time, you only graduate when you finish your university. And I only graduated after slogging, (ok, maybe I didnt study as hard as I could or should have) for some 15 years before I got my degree and graduated.

However, nowadays, there are graduation ceremonies for kindergarteners, primary school children, etc. I remember some 6 years ago when my oldest "graduated" from kindergarten. The graduation ceremony was a concert plus prize giving, and my daughter was one of the hosts for the night. I was so proud of her and there were tears in my eyes, as I proudly saw my daughter grow up, and "graduate" from Kindergarten. My precious little one (then) could speak and carry herself so well. It was indeed a proud moment for me.

Last friday saw husband and I at our daughter's school again. This time, she is leaving primary school, having completed 6 years of it. Tho' we knew she was not a prize winner and was not going to be called up on stage to receive anything, we chose to be at the event with her to celebrate the end of her primary school journey, to acknowledge the hard work she put through, and to thank the teachers for their efforts in helping us mold her into an educated and useful citizen.

A surprise was in store for us, as we were not expecting any spotlight on her. Imagine to our surprise, the principal, when she was giving a speech, decided to call on my daughter to identify herself. She then shared with everyone what my daughter wrote about her primary school experience. As I wasnt prepared, I did not manage to video tape that portion of the ceremony (we were told that professionals were hired to record the event). It was a touching, but well written piece my daughter had done as part of their post exam activities, and the principal felt that her written piece probably summarised what every student felt and wanted to say!! I must say, that again brought a tear to my eye.(Why am I so emo??) We were so proud of her! My daughter, who hates attention, wasnt so pleased about that tho'. But that will definitely add to my memories of her primary school education, if not hers!


And with that, my oldest has "graduated" from primary school.


(Results day is Thursday next week. Wish her luck!!)

End of term Party

Little D's class celebrated the end of the school term and year with a party in school. The theme was gold and pyramid.

I wanted her to wear a gold coloured cheong sum for the party. But she found this dress and insisted on wearing it.

I found it too "beauty world", but she loved it!!


For party food, I cracked my head real hard, and could only think of Toblerone. But another Mum had already indicated that she was bringing that. So I decided to make these Chocolate crackles for them. I adapted the recipe a little, and replaced mini M&Ms with gold coloured cauchons and put them in little gold coloured casings:

I must say, it was quite a hit with the kids.

Here's the recipe for chocolate crackles:
1 cup rice bubbles, 1 cup cocoa pops
1 bar chocolate (melted)
Mix them all together and sprinkle cauchons on top.
Refrigerate
Viola! there you have it!!

Halloween

I know that Halloween was 2 weeks ago, but I have not had the time to post.

The kids wanted a halloween celebration, but I wasnt keen. I gave them the excuse that we should not be celebrating with the ghosts! Also, as Little D was down with HFMD we couldnt be doing much. (Read: I was too lazy to want to do anything, having had to entertain her at home the whole week).

But to appease the older 2 kids, I made them some Halloween cookies and they all looked like this:


And also with the turmoil on Wall Street, this was what Halloween was like over there:


Did you have a good halloween?

Mish Mash

Yes, this is a mish mash post. Have not been posting for quite awhile. Why? Lethargy!!

My daughter's exams are over, so is my son's. Huge relief.

Older kids were home for a couple of days due to the marking of exam papers in the school. Little D commented: "So LUCKY! I wish I can stay home with them." Tried to convince her that she was the lucky one that got to go to school and have all that fun with her friends. Was she convinced? NO! Why, because last week she was down with HFMD, and got a week off school, and she said: "I am so Lucky!" Despite all the pain and discomfort, she still thought she was lucky! Guess, her perception of "lucky" is different from mine.

Helpers at home have been giving "trouble" again! Why?? They only do the basic, and refuse to do more. They will mop the floor, but refuse to wipe the windows. Not that we expect them to do it everyday, just once a month! They are also back to their nonsense of not wanting to eat left-overs. Are they spoilt or what? If I can eat the previous day's leftovers for lunch, why cant they??

Kids been having a good time now that exams are over. Everyday is computer games or the X-Box day. Funny how they dont need a break when they are at it. They can go on for hours, sometimes as many as 3 to 4 hours. I practically have to plead with them to stop and rest their eyes. But when they were studying for their exams, they needed a break after every half an hour of work, and the break was as long as the time they spent studying.

Well, that's all for now. Have a great week ahead!