counting my blessings: a MUSICALLY-inclined christmas

on a sunday morning a few weeks ago, we bought a 6 foot noble fir christmas tree and got it delivered by 5pm the same day. it was all designed that way so that the clan could help to decorate the tree after dinner. first to go up was the angel.

then the baubles,

and more baubles,

and whatever we have accumulated over the years,

and lastly, the LED lights.

TA-DAH!! our very sweet-smelling christmas tree for this year.

this year, we revived our tradition of theme-dressing for our christmas lunch. (actually, it's always on the 24th). the past two years, we took a break from dressing up cos we were away.

the theme this year? MUSICALS from Broadway/West End.

as usual, there was a lot of secrecy and guesswork leading up to the actual day.

and now, unveiling the characters......
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sandy from GREASE and deloris from SISTER ACT

danny and sandy from GREASE

her holiness is far from holy

wei couldn't find a blonde wig to come as roxie hart so she's velma kelly from CHICAGO.
i call this photo: mother of/and the slut or better yet: mother of all sluts

CK is the phantom from, well, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

lynne is JOSEPH AND THE took-me-days-to-sew-and-if-i-don't-complete-in-time-i-will-migrate-to-australia AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT. a real labour of love, all glittering pieces painstakingly sewn onto a bathrobe.

ok, this is interesting.
gary is, have you guessed it, one of the blokes from THE FULL MONTY. (see the "hare" on his chest. geddit?)
and even a kid will tell you PCK is in the house. which, technically, is not fulfilling the theme of the competition. but ga did ask us to make an exception though we didn't know at that point which local musical he was going to choose from.
aside: her mole damn scary. B.I.G and furry.

another naughty bit on the nikkid man.

jy is TIMON and xru is PUMBAA from THE LION KING

and pumbaa with her best friend, clarrissa, who was our judge. we all found sucking up to her didn't help cos she was very impartial, very fair.

ah beng and the nun

after the oohs and ahhs, the shrieks and the laughter, ( i laughed so hard when i saw gary and we all oohed at mom's ingenious costume. where else but in multi-racial singapore can you buy 2 tudungs from geylang and convert them to a nun's habit?), and the photo-taking, it was time to eat.

this year, i added another table to the end of our eight-seater marble table. we had 12 people this year, with jy and clarissa joining us for the first time. food, again, was too much though we had cut down on the meat and added more greens. there was turkey and ham and sausages with all their sauce which made them yummy. and grilled portobello mushrooms and stir-fried fine beans and plenty of broccoli and cherry tomatoes. i also made mashed potatoes.

the young 'uns who behaved themselves

it was some old 'un who still plays with his food, tsk, tsk.

for a few years now, we have stopped exchanging gifts. christmas is a season to give more than to receive as we have been blessed with so much throughout the year. as a family, we donated a pumping well to a village in cambodia through world vision.

oh ya, forgot to mention that it wasn't just a dressing competition. we had to get in character as well and perform. and that was really when the fun began.

first was the singing nun who sang a medley of two songs, amazing grace and i will follow Him.

then it was oz and my turn. had to get into character first.