Back in my kampung for Christmas

Another year done, another Christmas looming. Back home in lovely KL again. No matter there being no snow or festive street lights, Christmas has always been one of my favourite times of year. When I worked in the UK, I used to always have the misfortune to be on-call Christmas and New Year. The lovely snow and Oxford Street lights made up for some of it. I choose to ignore the wet and gale force winds and tube strikes... Now, I spend my Christmases in hot, sometimes wet, KL.

There were moments in the plane this time when my life flashed before my eyes. First was when we (seemingly to me) dropped about 200ft out of the blue (am sure in retrospect it was probably more like 10ft). Kiddo was having lunch at that time and her food went flying up out of the box. If I were super mom, no doubt I would have caught the lot with some fancy wielding of the box and fork, but being me, I just shoveled the pile back into the box and asked her if she wanted more. I think the pale face and gritted teeth gave me away (am not a great flyer at best of times). Kiddo took one look at me and started whimpering... Then said, 'I don't think I'm hungry anymore mummy...' Maybe the sweeping up of dropped bits put her off. Don't blame her. The second time was when our delightful air stewardess blithely carried on offering piping hot food and drink to everyone. My seat belt was on so tight I swear I couldn't feel my toes. So, no, nothing in front of me please. I don't fancy a hot coffee shake the next time we hit a bump.

There's just something about flying that makes me totally nervous. Absolutely no control. Inside some huge metal canister that logic tells me shouldn't be able to get off the ground let alone fly... Yes, yes... I know I'm a bit of a control freak.

In any case, we landed safely, albeit with me a little green. The rest of the flight was actually quite smooth, but anticipating the next plummet kept me on tenterhooks and my stomach in knots. Happily kiddo fell asleep. Mind you, the flight only takes 2 hours, and after 'the incident', we only had about an hour to go. I have to say that I was tempted to ask for some wine ('Thanks, just leave the bottle!'), but opted not to since, a)showing my kid that consuming alcohol as a way of dealing with stress is SERIOUSLY bad parenting, and, b)I really didn't want my Dad to pick us up with me looking like a total lush. Dads still need SOME illusions about their daughters even when said daughters are ___ (insert your age here).

We've now been back a day and already hit the Dentist (my old pal J who's an absolutely AMAZING kiddy dentist), Czip Lee (fab stationers), Borders, Art Friend, Think Toys (the old ELC) and Yuzu (yummy Japanese restaurant in the Gardens shopping centre). I also planted a row of loofah all along one wall and hung lights on our Christmas tree and in the front window. Kiddo went garland crazy and did the stair rails. What a day...!

Tomorrow we're off to Book Xcess (unmissable book store in Amcorp mall that does cheap books) and my little niece's birthday in the afternoon. It's wonderful being home...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year one and all!!