Obama's Final Christmas Message 2016 from the White House

Michelle and Barrack Obama gave their final Christmas Message from the White House. Cheecky and lovely was their joint message. All the best, Mr President and the First Lady for the future undertaking.

The Queen's Christmas Message 2015 & 2016

I have discovered the Christmas Message by Queen Elizabeth II is something to look forward to and she has always been inspirational in her speeches with a good message for her kingdom subjects and the rest of the world, if only they care to listen to her.

This was the Christmas Message 2016 where she talked about Inspirational for everyday living by common people like you and me. She quoted Saint Mother Teresa's saying of "Doing small things with greatness".She was thankful for the olympians and the NGOs who celebrated her 90th birthday with her.

In this 2015 Christmas message, she referred to the Gospel of John, darkness cannot overcome the light.

This has been a tradition from the Buckingham Palace since 1923.

Christmas Celebrations Menu

Christmas Celebrations must begin with food and end with Christmas Sweets as desserts.

21 Dec Winter Solstice Dinner cum Christmas Gathering for Heng's Family

1. Speical Pork Trotter Dish with pickled Cucumber (RM44 each)
2. Sweet & Sour Fish
3. Spider Sausage with sauce
4. DIY Pizzas
5. Green Salads
6. MIL- Chicken
7. MIL - Fish Maw with Crab Meat Soup
8. Mary - Fired Chicken Wings
9. Mary - Korean Glass Noddles 
10. Aunty Susie - Vegetables
11. Aunty Susie - Special Dish
12. Fruit Cake ?
13. Brownies
14. Iced Lemon Tea
15. Lemongrass Ginger Drink

Cook Spaghetti One Pot

For Carolers :-

1. Mini fruit Cakes
2. Chinese Lasagne

22 Dec WOE Home Group Christmas Gathering (Pot-Luck Style)
Asean Christmas Style

1. Roast Duck - Wendy
2. 锅贴 - Alice (70) & Aisha (60)
3. Satays - Wilfred & guys
4. Roast Chickens in a Can - Doria
5. Purple Cabbage Guava Salad - Doria
6. Braised Root Veggie & Lamb - Christine
7. Yellow Rice
8. Iced Lemon Tea
9. Chocolate Moist
10. Cookies
11. Candied Peanuts

Total Guests :- 20

23 Dec Rekast & Worship Team Christmas Supper (after 9pm)

1. Aroma Pizzas (10 pcs) 
2. Macaroni Cheese
3. Fruit Cake
4. Prune Cake
5. Candied Peanuts
6. Cookies

Total Guests :- 20-25

24 Dec Christmas Eve Dinner

1. Roast Turkey & Veggie Condiments from Grandis Hotel
2. Mashed Potatoes
3. Spaghetti & Mee
4. Spider Sausages
5. Aroma Pizzas (10 pcs)
6. Macaroni Cheese
7. Guava Purple Cabbage Salad
8. Roast Duck - Andrew
9. Pumpkin Soup - Lee Lee
10. Salsa Sauce & Chips - Lee Lee
11. Prawn & Wanton Apprtizers - Susan & Bong
12. Roast Chicken Green Salad - Aisha
13. Mulled Wine

Total Guests :- 50 pax

25 Dec Christmas BreakfEve Dinner

1. Roast Turkey from Consfood
2. Spaghetti & Mee
3. Spider Sausages
4. Purple Cabbage & Guava Salad
5. Macaroni Cheese
6. Garlic Bread
7. Salsa Sauce
8. Mulled Wine

Total Guests :- 19

Christmas Family Post 2016

Christmas is a season of mixed feelings ! Its a bit of too many good things happenings all at the same time and also a sad feeling that we are saying goodbyes to another year on earth, that the year is coming fast to an end.

We make it a Christmas traditions to have family and friends over for some meals, a few meals over the Christmas period. This year we had three and believe it or not, I did not have photos of the first two gatherings as I was too busy preparing the food list and talking to people.

It began with the Gaya Christmas Carnival in the middle of December, when it first begun, I set up a stall to sell Christmas Cakes and we did really well doing Chairty fund raising for a few years. After a few years, we decided we just want to enjoy the celebrations and not to be such "rush-ians", rushing through the Christmas season, chasing the wind, losing our focus on what is the real meaning of Christmas. So, for a good many years, we select our Christmas Celebrations activities carefully, we even declined to do caroling for a year or two so that officers have a better break in between camps.

This year, we did the following Christmasy things in December :-

• Visited Gaya Christmas Carnival on 14 Dec 2016 Wednesday night
• My Office GDM Christmas Party at Grandis Hotel on 16 Dec 2016 Friday Lunch 
• The Hengs Winter Solstier cum Christmas Dinner 21 Dec 2016 Wednesday 
• WOE Home Group Chirstmas Celebration cum Farewell Dinner to Aisha as new Connect Group Leader 22 Dec 2016 Thursday
• Rekast Young Adults Christmas Supper 23 Dec 2016 Friday with Elliot back home at 5:30 pm
• Christmas Eve Dinner with Tai Family and WOE Home Group, Brigade Group, Elite Ladies before Church Service at 9:30 pm
• Christmas Breakfast with Danny & Mui Fing family, David Tai family and Michael's mum & aunty before our trip to Rasa Ria Shangrila Resorts at Tuaran.
• Stay at Rasa Ria Resorts 25-27 Dec 2016
• KKGC Christmas Party on 27 Dec 2016 at BCCM KK
• Andrew & Judith's daughter wedding dinner at Sutera Magallen.

Christmas Family Posts from years past

Christmas 2012

Christmas 2013

Christmas 2016

Christmas Baking & Cooking Journel 2016

This year is a quieter year for baking but the baking still has to be on, partly because both older kids have been away and they are coming back for Christmas. As usual, I bake the following items ourselves, our Baking List :-

1. Fruit Cake
2. Prune Cake
3. Red Velvet Cake
4. Choc Moist Cake
5. Briwnies (cancelled)
6. Cookies
7. Candied Caramel Peanuts - sweet & salted
8. Mincemeat Pie (thinking)

For Cooking, I am getting an ordered Roasted Turkey for Christmas Eve, the rest of cooking will be :-

1. Spaghetti 
2. Chinese Lasagne
3. Marcaroni
4. Mashed Potatoes
5. Pizza
6. Ordered Pizza fr Aroma - 20 pcs
7. Ordered Satays
8. Roast Chickens on Cans

For our Celebration Menus, here are the list :-

21 Dec - Winter Solstice cum Christmas Gathering for Heng's Family

1. Spider Sausages
2. Marcaroni

Gifts for Carolers to take home :-

1. Mini Fruit Cake
2. Chinese Lasagne

Refreshment for Carolers :-

1. Spider Sausages
2. Iced Lemon Tea
3. Cookies
4. Fruit Cake
5. Candied Peanuts
6. Sweets

Journal of Baking

17 Dec 2016 Saturday for GB Christmas Party & Officers

1. Bake 1 Kg of Red Velvet Cakes 
2. Bake 4 Portions of Fruit Cakes - used Earl Grey Tea but did not soak the fruits, cakes a bit dry, pour Earl Grey tea all over the cakes to make them moist. 

19 Dec 2016 Monday (permed my hair in the afternoon)

1. Baking of 6 packs of Cookies - all types
2. Bake 4 Portions of Fruit Cakes for carolers (moist & buttery), pre-soaked fruits in morning, used Orange Juice, turns out well.

20 Dec 2016 Tuesday

1. Meeting till 8pm at DMH 

21 Dec 2016 Wednesday (Meeting in morning, can only bake in afternoon)

1. Spider Sausages 
2. Chinese Lasagne for carolers
3. Roasted 5 Kg of Peanuts - 3Kg candied, 2Kg salted
4. Make Pastries for Mincemeat Pies

22 Dec 2016 Thursday (to complete baking if possible)

1. Baked 5 Portions Prune Cake
2. Baked 4 Portions Fruit Cake
3. Roast 2 Chickens on the Cans
4. Baked 2 Portion Choc Moist Cake

Lunch at Tavern Imago with Elite Ladies

23 Dec 2016 Friday (Me-Day, Pedicure, Feet Maaaage)

1. Ordered Pizzas
2. Cooked Macaroni Cheese
3. Iced Lemon Tea

24 Dec 2016 Saturday 

1. Baked 4 Portions Choc Moist Cake (early morning 1-5pm)
2. Basked 4 Portions Red Velvet Cake (early morning 1-5 pm)
3. Check Guests List 50 pax
4. Collect 2 Turkeys
5. Collect 10 Pizzas

Menu

1. Roast Turkey (Bought)
2. Mashed Potatoes
3. Spaghetti & Mee
4. Spider Sausages
5. Maraconi Cheese
6. Purple Cabbage n Guava
7. Pizzas (Bought)
8. Roast Duck - Andrew
9. Pumpkin Soup - Lee Lee               
10. Salsa Sauce with Chips
11. Chicken Salad by Aisha
12. Appertizers by Susan

Guests List

1. Our family 7
2. Tai Family 13
3. Amelia 5
4. Susan 5
5. Aisha 3
6. BB 4
7. GB 7
8. Winson 5

Total 50

I am going to adopt the attitude that since I am baking to give away, I will give as many away as the people can come to me or to my mind. I do not want to keep cakes until the real parties and then noone eat the cakes and they went straight to freezer then dustbins after a few months. What a waste. This year plan is no wastage. I also hope to sell some off so that I could recover some of  my cost. (Sigh! The ingredients cost are getting higher by the year.)

For the record, I managed to give all away and some of them totally unexpected namelist too. I still have 3 in the fridge which were promised for someone but will see if we eat them first.