Boxing Day

dated 26 December 2008

(Mood: Shopped, tired and philosophical)

Boxing Day here in Auckland is interesting. All the shops go on sale! So, just imagine the shopping frenzy! We thought we should ride along and take advantage of the discounts. I hate shopping. But I need to buy some necessities like clothes and kitchen items that need to be replaced. So, off we went. My younger daughter was so bored and tired she kept telling me she was sleepy... and she wasn't pretending, she really was. I pitied her. But we had to drag her along because I needed to buy her at least one pair of pants. She's grown so fast these past few months that all her pants seem to be bursting at the seams. I also bought pyjamas for both of us. We never really bothered to wear pyjamas in M'sia because shorts and tees are good enough. Here, on cold days, it's really uncomfortable to just have shorts on, even with blankets and a duvet over us to keep warm. So, I finally bought two for myself, one to wear and one to go to the wash. My younger daughter has pyjamas actually, but she's fast outgrowing them too. Her tops can't cover her tummy anymore when she lies down, especially because she tosses around too much in her sleep. So, after my younger son and daughter had their shopping, we sent them home to rest. Then it was my older daughter's turn. Only I went back with her. So, why am I boring you with something as mundane as shopping? he! he! Because I hate shopping and it bores me too but it's Boxing Day and we can buy things on sale! Well, now we know. No need to shop the whole year, just wait for Boxing Day!
New Year's Eve was rainy. It rained the whole night and we thought that must have spoiled the barbecue of many people. Here in Auckland, most people celebrate any occasion with a barbecue. The whole day of the 24th was rainy as well. But thank God, 25th was a bit cloudy but not rainy. It was even warm enough for us to don our summer clothes. No need for jumpers or sweaters. And we attended a barbecue potluck hosted by a Pakeha (White Kiwi) and her family. She invited other families / individuals who have no relatives to spend Christmas with here in Auckland, so, that was really cool. The barbecue was chicken, sliced potatoes and sausages. My younger son loves sausages so, he really enjoyed that. We broughta big bowl of fried yellow noodles and apple pie, brownies and chocolates for dessert. The barbecue was served with green salads and other appetizers. And our host had like another full meal for our dessert: ice cream, fresh fruit salad, chocolates and so many other sweets. By and large, it was a really typical Kiwi and fun Christmas lunch!
BTW, I am looking at the streamer on top of my myspace screen, an add on child abuse awareness. Hmmm... why do we have child abusers? How do we actually stop people from abusing their kids?? Child abuse is just one of the symptoms of our society's breakdown because of the break down of family. Where there is break down of family, there is child abuse. And where there is child abuse, there's a subsequent break down of family. It's like a vicious cycle. But break down of family is just another symptom as well of the breakdown of our society. Other symptoms are: High crime rate, high school leaving rate, high teen pregnancy rate, poverty, vice (and this in itself is very broad - substance abuse i.e. alcohol, drugs, tobacco, gambling, prostitution, violence, etc). And the root of all these is Sin. It's that simple. Why is there sin? Man is basically bad, let's face it. Whereas, our famous Psychologists preach: Man is basically good. That's why we never face our Sin and deal with the problem. We are all basically bad. We are inclined to sin because we are all self-lovers. We are selfish, we think about ourselves first, we love to pamper ourselves, we love leisure and entertainment, we love an easy life, etc. We are not aware how bad we really are because we have neglected the word of God in our lives. We never bother to know what God's guidelines and commands are, for us to live a good life here on earth. We think we know it all and God doesn't really mind. But what God requires of us is to obey His commands. When we obey His commands we will have to think of God and our neighbor first, ahead of ourselves. That is, we will have to think, will this please God and my neighbor or is this too tough for me to do? What about me? See? So, the bottom line is, do we want to love God or our fleshly selves? Actually, if only we start obeying God, we will realize that we are making things better for ourselves too, and in so doing, we actually start loving ourselves. Tricky eh? Go and try it! It's a step of faith. You won't really be able to know what good God and His commands can do to us as individuals and as families and societies, IF we don't give HIM a try. That's just how it works. We can't love our children or our fellow men because we don't even love ourselves. We need to know God and His commands to learn to start loving ourselves. As God said, "Love your neighbor as yourself." How can we love others, including our own children, if we haven't even learned to love ourselves? We've got to give God a try.

So, back to Boxing Day, yeah, I'm tired shopping. And now I feel better having written all these. :-)

Blessed Christmas and New Year to all. I pray the economic downturn doesn't get worse in the New Year.