Sydney: Summer Christmas Gathering

 Ep.66

24^th – 26^th December 2012.

“Family is like brances on a tree, we all grow in different directions, yet our roots remain as one,” – Annonymous.

SYD – Sydney, Australia.

Circus sticks together!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, it is Christmas. Originally I was scheduled for an LA flight over Christmas, but as a favor for me, my classmate swapped her Sydney flight for me! Yeay. More over, my parents, younger brother and some other relatives are also going to be there to spenf Christmas. This one is gonna be good. My favorite time around the year. My daddy Jesus’s birthday. Even though it was a summer Christmas over in Sydney.

chefs

I arrived at Sydney, as usual, in the morning. Catch some sleep and took a bath and Andrew picked me up. *such a routine* This time, I was forcibly dragged to accompany him do some errands regading the car licensing, and some paperworks. Well, all I need to do was just dragged my feet along and follow him like a lost puppy. Everytime we reached the office, I would do the same thing; look for the waiting section and sit back, relax and wait. I was supposed to have a sleepover at my cousins’ house that night after the Christmas Eve dinner and prepare the BBQ stuffs for tomorrow lunch. So that’s the plan.

gossipers

We head back to Andrew’s apartment and waited for Ci Evi and her family members to come back. Oh yeah! They’re also spending Christmas over in Sydney. The more the merrier and the circus sticks together. As soon as they arrived at the apartment, the Christmas atmosphere flowed already. I guessed it was the chit chat that I have longing for so long. Ci Evi families were a very merry and cheery that they brought up happy cloud around the room. That was a very good one.

let's rip those meat, bro!

We gave them a chance to catch their breath and soon we were heading to have a Christmas dinner at Tony Romas. Ci Evi worked there and this restaurant offer a staff rewarding system that everytime you got a certain amount of sales, you got a reward voucher to dine in Tony Romas. Good for us, Ci Evi is a sweet upselling employee, she gathered up all of her hard-earned coupon and treat the whole long table feasts. We had some old talks going around the table, teasing each other and asking each other life’s update.

sizzling station

The dinner ended as the restaurant almost closed. We kinda lost track of time when people gathered around. We called the bill and it was downed to around 100 AUD left, while it was supposed to be around AUD 400, I guess. That’s what we called discounted! We took some pictures and as we got only two cars and many parents here, the youngsters walks and the parents in the car. That’s how we do it.

quality control station

After dropped Ci Evi’s family to the hotels, Andrew and I went to Ko Ricco’s house. He is my oldest male cousin from my father’s side. We arrived at night and Rocky and Nicole (the newlywed) has just arrived as well. Ci Irene, Ko Ricco’s wife along with Rey and Audrey, their children, were off to bed already and I was sneaking to reach my slepping spot on the other side of the room. Yeah, Ko Ricco will take the other room and I will sleep here with the mom and babies. Ha-ha! There were also lot of the bands, Nathan, Eko, Dicky, that will joining us tomorrow. At that moment I realize how big my family is. The preparation for the barbeque was enormous. We used the bath tub to thaw the wagyu beef, we got aroung few pounds of shrimp and chicken as well to be marinade and keep overnight. Some veggies and sauces here and there. Wooft! A lot of thing to do, and let the boys do their things.

get your hands dirty sis!

By the time, Nicole and I, sneaked to the living room, chit chat about her life after the wedding and this and that. Had couple glasses of wine joining us through the girls talk session and there we were watching CJ7 movie for Christmas Eve together on a sofa bed. We bid each other good night, or rather good morning, as we off to sleep around 3 or 4 in the morning already. Wait a minute, it was already Christmas then. I woke up the Christmas morning around 9, fresh and ready to welcome the families. I took a bath and this time, I got my hands in the kitchen.

cooking station, emergency style!

First thing first, Andrew, Nicole and me, went to the gas station to buy some ice cube for the drinks. We went back home and Andrew drove to pick up my parents from the airport. I chopped the veggies as they are going to be cooked later. Nicole helped me as the other boys set the BBQ pits, stove, stands, and even built a tent, open the garage and covered the tables. It will become a mess. I marinade the chicken breast and chilled it at the fridge. As the clock hits 12 noon, the crowds getting larger and larger. My auntie’s family came in 5 people, checked! My family came in 4 people, checked! Nicole’s best friends and some family friends came in, another 6 people, checked! Ci Evi family came in, 10 people, checked! Along with the crowd that we already got, I guess it was around 30-40 people in the house.

ladies

We started the BBQ and as soon as the the smokes started, the fire alarm rang. A sudden movement all over the house, we cancelled the alarm rightaway otherwise we would be charged for the false alarm by the fire department and due to this in holiday, it was gonna be doubled. We saved the alarm, well we turn it off, and continue sizzling those meats. My auntie brought some wines, Indonesian fishcake along with the sour soup and some desserts. It was quite hectic and people started going around, hopping from group to group and have a little chat here and there.

As the chat goes around, the food goes around as well. And it was never ending food. We called it a wrap when everyone couldn’t take any bite more and we wash the dishes. Clean the house, clean the mess. We still got few pounds of wagyu and shrimp, and let it be ther in the fridge. We gathered up in front of the house and took a family group picture which took such a long time to arrange the position with a lot of people to fit in the frame. Ha-ha! Moreover, with the kids running around.

Nicole and Me.

My parents would spent a night with me at the crew hotel, but I will be leaving the next early morning. Well, its better than nothing. Having this job, especially, I guess made me more appreciate the existence and the accompaniment of each family member that I have. I treasured them more and I hope to celebrate more Christmases in the future with them. Well obviously even more larger family as we keep on recruiting.

“As the family grow larger in number, our love to each other should also flows abundantly” – Me.