There’s something about Christmas that always gives me the fuzzy warm feeling inside. Maybe it is the twinkling coloured lights, maybe it is the scent of the season. But the best part of the season? All the Christmas gatherings and parties. Not that we don’t have any gatherings or parties or meet-ups at other times during the year, but it is just different when it's Christmas, y’know?
Anyway, ever since I know my boyfriend 5+ years ago, his secondary school clique has always made it a point to organise a Christmas party at a chalet because the entire clique had quite a number of people. This year, it was the same.
The only difference was that in order to accommodate the majority, the party was set on the 1st week of December. The earliest Christmas party for the year. And because we took quite some time in finalising on the date of the party, we had very limited accommodation choices as most of them had been booked by others. So, we ended up booking the biggest room left available in D’Resort, the Beach Cove Room.
A few of us got off work earlier to help DL, the main organiser for the year, to prepare for the party. Since I had some leaves left to spare (and also for the joy of planning such parties), I took half-day off as well. All the preparations went smoothly, from the check-in to the catering, except for one thing. The weather. IT WAS RAINING THE ENTIRE DAY. Heavy drizzle to be exact. Even after getting what we needed from NTUC, it was still drizzling heavily and we couldn't do much at all. Once it became a light drizzle, we just went ahead and started the barbecue because... HUNGRY~!
Just when we were shifting the stuff down to our pit to set up for the barbecue, more help arrived and they got the fire started quickly and, finally, cooking of the food began. Luckily DL ordered some cooked food from the caterer as well because the food wasn't done cooking and more of us came and people were hungry!
Bit by bit, all of us finally reached and everyone took turns to watch over the fire and barbecue the food. Or should I say that mostly it was the guys who did most of the barbecuing? Hahaha. We girls did the cooking too okay, but I guess, ultimately, the guys stood over the pit way longer. So thankful for them.
For this year's party, not only do we have the food and gift exchange. There were also games to be played! And the game master was none other than the organiser, DL! Since I'm the assistant game master, I did not get to play but I must say... It was so much fun watching everyone participate in the games. I mean, that is the whole point of games, right? Plus, it is on a good note that all of DL's effort in preparing the games was worth it.
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| Because this photo has so much laughter in it. |
When there's a game, there will always a winning team and a losing team, and the losing team will get a forfeit which, for us, it was something similar to the King's Cup. Though, the losing team managed to get away from doing the forfeit in the end. Hahaha. Lucky them!
Once we were done with the game and some cleaning up, it was time to play some sparkles!
And of course, we all took turns to attempt making some sparkles "art".
After all the sparkles "art" creation and clearing up the barbecue pit, we headed back to the room and had the annual Secret Santa Gift Exchange before some of us have to make a move to catch the last train, whereas some of us stayed for the night.
As we grow up, many of us also grow apart from our childhood friends. Yet, this bunch of friends did not grow apart from each other at all and still made the effort to keep in contact, hang out and celebrate the festive seasons. Some knew each other since they were 13, and some since 7 years old. One regret I had was that I grew apart from the secondary school mates who were so close to me back then.
Gratefully, after getting together with boyfriend, this bunch of friends has never made me feel like I was just merely a +1, but also a part of their group. I am truly very thankful that boyfriend grew up together with them and always had them in his life, and no words can express how much I appreciate this bunch of people.
To all the gatherings, celebrations and occasions down the years, and to the friendship that lasts.
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