Christmas 2015: Christmas Over To New Year Part 3

I said in Part 1 that I would break Christmas 2015 updates into 3 parts. The volume of photos with the VIOS Christmas cum New Year's Eve gathering is too big that I would need a Part 4 to conclude the whole Christmas season.

What??? It's already March and you are still not done updating about Christmas? *sheepish smile*
Yes, coz my Christmas meet ups went all the way till February.




My copy and paste disclaimer warning as usual:

IMAGE HEAVY
Loooooooong picture-ful post. Go get your drinks and popcorn while waiting for the images to load. You could even savour your main dish in front of your computer. Those viewing this on your smartphones and other hand held devices, I suggest you skip reading this post till you get home or you might risk jamming your device and cursing at my blog in public. I know my turtle friend did that once minus the cursing in public. =P


~*The One from 2015 to 2016*~

New Year's eve was spent with the VIOS at Benson and Peggy's cozy home.




Besides two-legged beings, there was also Slinky-- the super shy and gentle Miniature Dachshund. He's so gentle and well-behaved that I always forgot it's a he and not a she. I must have stumped Jerm and Dot a few times when I kept saying "she" and "her".



It really felt Christmassy holding a Christmas gathering on New Year's eve with a mini Christmas tree, sparkling lightings and presents galore.





Instead of Christmas dishes, dinner was a local fare of zi char.




Zi Char is the kind of food that warms the heart of almost every Singaporean Chinese. It is always great to gather with the entire family clan or friends over zi char dinner. The more the merrier as we could savour many different kinds of dishes all at once.




This combination of brown food is not Instagram worthy at all but who cares as long as it is delicious.




Home made dessert by Jac, the culinary goddess.




Featuring my hubz as the dishwasher for that evening. It was a rare sight.




All photos with a yellowish tone was taken using Flor's iPhone 5. The rest were taken using my iPhone 6 and Jac's iPhone 6 Plus with a huge ass lens! She win liao!




Just chatting, playing games, taking photos and keeping ourselves entertained.







VIOS gift exchange last year was done using drawnames.com. So we knew whom we were buying for and some had non-obligatory wish list which made shopping for presents a lot easier.




Gift exchange process




Gift exchange process




My gift for Dot. You would never guess what was inside!

I got Dot a Lululemon gift card which was the first choice on her wish list. However in order not to make it so obvious that it was a little card, I wrapped it with a packet of dark chocolate digestive biscuits as it so happened that dark chocolate was another of her choice.

Remember how I mentioned that I cannot gift wrap for nuts? I was really thankful for atas catalogue papers that really made my gift WRAPPER stand out and overshadowing my lousy gift WRAPPING.





My gift was from Jerm who got me my first choice -- Copic markers with pastel tones. Even though Jerm was my official santa, it was his wife Dot who chose the markers for me. I learnt from her that she had a hard time choosing the colours since each colour had so many different shades. I could never bear to buy myself Copic markers coz I know I would simply want to buy the whole shelf.




Next it was time for the unofficial gift giving from whoever who had gifts.

Jully looked like she had her "stall" all set up as she laid her gifts down on the floor for us to choose.




Then it was my turn to spread out the Disney Tsum Tsum cable winder. Check out Jac and one-eyed Mike on her.




Jac gave the group hand-made terrariums which was the perfect representation of a gift made with lots of time and effort. The terrariums were first featured in Christmas 2015: Christmas Over To New Year Part 1.




Shiling got us Xmas postcards cards with hand-written notes. We hurriedly arranged all the postcards into a Christmas tree topped with a star.




Jas also got us socks. All the gals got animal socks.




Posing with their socks from another perspective.




I could never pose properly with my socks because kh kept photo bombing with his hands.




The boys each got different super heroes socks and they quickly got into their characters in a funny video that is meant for private viewing.




This photo collage would sum up just how funny the video was.




The kids were so excited opening their gifts.




I like how amidst the randomness of this picture, one thing congruent was that everyone was happy with their gifts.




Loads of laughter and scrutinizing of one's gift.




The local NYE countdown programme was airing on TV but with the stroke of midnight, we switched channels to watch the fireworks on Taipei 101 and had a moscato toast.




A final shot of all the gals before some of them made their way home.




The guys also wanted an all boys shot and up till now, the gals wondered what they were discussing about in a hush hush tone before they went "cheers".




There was a huddle, shoulder patting, fist bumping, whispering in hush tones, a cheers and then that sly smiles for the camera.




Slinky in the bag




As captioned on Instagram:
Spent the last day of 2015 and the first day of 2016 with an amazing group of old and new frenz. It was a wonderful evening of joy and laughter. And for those who stayed on to chat and drink till dawn broke, it had been a fun sharing session. I haven't stayed up and chat with a group of people till almost 6am without feeling tired at all. Thank you VIOS for the friendship and cheers to many more years!




Part 4 would conclude all the Christmas meet ups and pig outs in Jan and Feb.

I know I'm slow with my blog updates. I come home all tired out that I hardly touch my laptop to do blog stuff. I'm more active on Instagram and Facebook where uploading of posts could be done swiftly from my mobile phone. If you haven't already, let's connect on my Facebook and Instagram page.