DanielYKL

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27

There’s a sad sort of clanging
From the clock in the hall
And the bells in the steeple too,
And up in the nurs’ry an absurd little bird
Is popping out to say “coocoo”.

Regretfully they tell us,
But firmly they compel us
To say goodbye to 2008

So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehen, goodbye,
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight.
So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehen, adieu,
Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu.

So long, farewell, Au’voir, auf wiedersehen,
I’d like to stay but life has to go on
So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehen, goodbye,
I leave and heave a sigh and say goodbye,
Good bye

I’m glad to go,
I cannot tell a lie.
I flit, I float,
I fleetly flee, I fly.

‘08 has gone and now ‘09 is here
So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye 2008
Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye!

I guess by now most Christian homes would have the Christmas trees decorated up and all lighted. Yes, once a year we would unwrapped the green plastic Christmas tree from the storeroom, wiped the dust off and decorate it with colourful ornament and wrap around it with bright Led lights.  The decorated tree will be left there for a week or two then it will be dismantled and wrapped up with plastic sheet and back to the storeroom again till the next Christmas. And this goes on year after year.

Our human hearts are the same. For some of us Christians, during these festive season we opened up our hearts and became charitable, giving and sharing. And after Christmas, we wrapped it up and keep it in store again.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we can decorate our hearts like how we decorated the Christmas trees so the world can see our lighted and decorative hearts. It would be nice if we could decorate our hearts with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulnes, humility and self-control -  and let Christmas be in us everyday throughout the year instead of just during Christmas season. These are the fruit of the Spirit of Christmas. And most importantly let our hearts be embrossed with God in the centre. Without God in it, Christmas is just another celebration with no true meaning.

So this Christmas let us decorate and light up our hearts with the fruit of the Spirit and let the world see the real meaning of Christmas throughout the year and never put it back in the store ever!

Blessed Christmas. Peace on earth and goodwill to all men!

We had some of our Middle Eastern friends over to my friend’s place to celebrate Christmas. I prepared some cocktail food or as some called it “finger food.” It was a simple affair but the food preparation is time consuming and laborious. But then I kinda enjoyed it as it brings out the creativity in oneself and also especially when you see your guests enjoying it.

We had 3 groups of guests. First group of 3 families came at 3pm and the second group of 3 families came at 4.30pm. And the third group of  single men and women came at 8pm.

My Middle Eastern friends (from left to right) Aresh from Iran, Ghayth from Iraq, Mohd from Syria, Barsa from Palestine and me from good old Penang!

 Helping themselves to the starters.

Shrimp Canapes

Chicken and Salmon Canapes

Assorted Pinwheel Sandwiches

Mushroom and Black Pepper Chicken Sausage 

Feta Cheese and Spinach Triangles 

Tapas (Chicken slice wrapped in Tortilla)

Starters Spread (Pinwheel Sandwiches, Shrimp Canapes, Assorted Canapes and Spice Papadam with Yoghurt Mint Dips and Gerkins and Mayonnaise Dips)

Main Spread 1  (Foreground: (Left) Mini Kebab sticks, (Right) Stuffed Egg Tapas

The Main Spread 2

Hussein and Riad from Iraq and their children.

Diana, Aya and Mohd

The beautiful Arab children

We have corrupted the true meaning of Christmas. The world has commercialized Christmas. Shopping malls are making tonnes of money on Christmas season. Millions are spent on Christmas gifts. Whether you are a Christian or not a Christian it’s impossible for you to ignore that Christmas is here.

But really what is Christmas? To simply put it, Christmas is to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ. To remember His goodness, His love, His sacrifice and how he came into this world as a baby born in a stable, and gave his life up for the world so that whoever shall believe in Him shall have eternal life. He was betrayed, died on the cross and buried and on the third day raised from the grave and ascended back to heaven.

Christmas is not about Santa Claus. It’s not about Christmas trees. It’s not about shopping, partying and getting drunk. Christmas is about Jesus. It is His birthday.

Strange isn’t it, that most of us give gifts to everyone but the One whose birthday we celebrate!

Just imagine you organized a birthday party for your dad. You catered in food from the finest restaurant. You engaged a live band. You invited all your relatives, buddies and neighbors. Everybody came all dressed up. Everybody’s eating, drinking, dancing and catching up with one another. Then at 12 midnight the music stopped and the host announced that now it’s the  time to exchange our gifts. So we exchanged gifts with one another. We were all so busy with our “gifts giving” that we forgot the real reason for who and why we are celebrating the birthday. We gave gifts to everybody except for the birthday boy!

You may ask, how do I give gift to Jesus? How do I give gift to someone who died more than 2000 years ago? No, no! He is not dead. He is very much alive today in you and me!

Jesus the birthday boy said, “For I was in need of food, and you gave it not to me; I was in need of drink, and you gave it not to me: I was wandering, and you took me not in; without clothing, and you gave me no clothing; ill, and in prison, and you came not to me. Truly I say to you, because you did it not to the least of these, you did it not to me.”

This is how this Christmas you can give you gift to Jesus. After all this is His birthday.

We should be practicing charity, to quote Charles Dickens, “keeping Christmas in our hearts” on everyday of the year! That’s the true meaning of Christmas!