CHRISTMAS 2010

Christmas and Chinese New Year are always family biased occasions but for 2010 it is highlighted by the arrival of the twins, Jamie & Sonya Fung who are a few days shy of their second month on Planet Earth this Christmas Day. Parents will always be parents, regardless of misgivings we sometimes have about the unbecoming behavior of our offsprings. We forget, we even forgive, a parental trait that transcends the ages on this special day.

Many have said that when your children start having children of their own, attitudes change as they begin to realize the hardships and challenges ahead. As I said in my annual family report, I get a certain 'evil satisfaction' from telling my daughter & son-in-law ' ... if you think managing the twins now is hard, wait till they grow up'.

3 things, simple things, touched my heart this Christmas. I could not hold back my tears in each of the occasions.

* Watching my 89 year old mother at our Christmas Eve gathering last night ... enjoying her turkey, ham & cakes; mingling with her grandchildren; the smile on her face when she opened her presents. Tearing quietly, I want to lock that away in the sacred recess of my memory where they cannot be erased.

* An email from a childhood friend came today, one that reminds us how we might have missed the growing up of our children when they needed us the most, when we were preoccupeid with business and less important things. This is the story : a father opened a page of his son's diary in the attic that read, "Dad took me fishing and that was the best day of my life". The son is a grown up now, with his own kids. He hurried to his study, found his own dusty diary, and on that same day his entry was "I wasted a whole day fishing with John". It brought immediate tears to my eyes, shamed by all those evenings I chose to stay in the office rather than coming home for dinner, many many unforgivable years ago.

* Andrea stayed at home last night, something she hardly does anymore. Comfortably tugged into a warm blanket next to our virtual fireplace in the living room, she slept through the night. When she woke I made her favorite breakfast, a cheddar cheese omelette on rye toast, which she consumed at hurricane speed. "That was very good Dad, thanks". Well, another tear jerker alright, on Christmas morning.

Merry Christmas to you all ....