I Remember...

I Remember...

It was the 24th of December, 2006, a cold, bitter night. Icicles froze on my nose as soon as I got out of the car. We walked with our heads bowed low, me and my family, to the Christmas Party at my grandparents’ apartment.

The warnmth and happy atmosphere greeted us as we stepped inside the door. The glitter banners hung over our heads, the golden candles lit up the house. The towering Christmas tree with its green needles dressed in shiny, shimmering, sparkling, spiral, shooting-star shaped silver baubles of glass. And if you peeped, you could see the piles of presents hiding underneath, all wrapped up in their coats of red, gold and green.

Everyone was smiling, chattering, laughing. My aunts asked, “Hello. How are you? How is school?” My uncles boomed, “Hi there, niece. How’s it going? Played the piano lately?” And my grandparents fussed, “Wear your woolly or you’ll catch the cold!”

Dinner was fantastic. The square table with the checkered tablecloth couldn’t support all the food: the huge brown roasted turkey larger than a football, the salad with the lettuce and tomatoes, the chicken wings, the spaghetti with white cream sauce, the salmon sushi, the ham and egg omelet, the noodles in soup, and of course, the big tub of rice.

Glasses and cutlery tinkled and sang as everyone tucked in. Wafts of food travelled around the house, and everyone had a second helping. Grannie said, “Don’t waste the food, dearie.” And everyone had a third and fourth helping!

Dessert was even better. A wobbling mountain of jelly, a skyscraper of ice-cream and a pool of fruit was put on the table. The jelly was sweet in your mouth, and the ice-cream simply melted on the tip of your tongue. The fruits of different colours: red, orange, yellow, green and white, were a spectacle to one’s eyes and mouth.

After stuffing ourselves on the table of food, we played games such as “hide-and-seek”, “What’s this?”, and “guess the presents”. Grannie and Gramp made sure everyone left their house jolly, sweaty and of course, bloated as a balloon.

“I will never forget that Christmas party night, on which we celebrated at my grandparents’ house.” I say, lost in my dream. Sis, who is standing next to me, stamps her feet and comments on the weather, “Brrrrrrrrr! It’s getting cold and Christmas is just around the corner. I wonder if Grannie will host a Christmas party this year…”