Merry Christmas! Love, Me.

What’s Christmas to you? What stops you in your tracks, makes you take a deep breath and go, “Yes, it’s Christmas”? What brings that holiday season cheer into your heart, making you glad to be alive?

Is it the Christmas tree in the corner of your living room, decorated with baubles and shining lights? Is it the reindeer dolls and red-and-white colour themes? Is it the shopping sprees, checking out every sale? Is it the food, or the presents? Is it the snow and the fireplace, or the sun and the beach?

Christmas decor at Changi Airport.

I’ve spent Christmas in a many different places in my life: at my grandparents’, stuffed with char siew mee, or at a restaurant in Rome, a shrill soprano determinedly blowing her way through White Christmas right into our ears. In a crowded backpackers making too much food in the shared oven, or in Ministry of Sound trying not to inhale too much cigarette smoke. Each venue had its own up and downs, but they all taught me one thing: it really doesn’t matter where you are. Only the people matter.

They don’t even have to physically be with you. In fact, Christmas has always been a time where I think about the people who aren’t with me. It doesn’t mean that I don’t like the people I’m with, but there’s always someone I wish could be here too.

I’m in Hong Kong this year, where we’re coming to the end of pre-production for the feature film. It’s my first winter Christmas since my mum and I were in Italy in 2004 (where the above-mentioned soprano threatened our glasses with her high notes). It’s my second day here and I’m enjoying it so far; I love walking in the winter air with my hands in my pockets. More often than not I turn out to be walking in the wrong direction, but I don’t mind so much.

Right now, I’m sitting in my room, thankfully big enough to accommodate both my person and my suitcase, fingers over the keyboard. I miss my family and I miss my cat, obviously, but there are also many other people I would love to share Christmas with.

There’s Jono and Natalie, my old classmates and housemates. We did practically everything together, from short film projects to eating Nutella with tablespoons. We watched a lot of Green Wing and quoted inappropriate lines to each other. When others wiggled their way out of it, they stayed late with me to give the ‘tech studio walls a new coat of paint for our multi-cam production.

Three years after graduation we’re all living different lives in different cities, only getting to say hello once in awhile on Facebook or in an iMessage. I wish they were with me this Christmas, so we can drink Baileys Irish Cream out of mugs and laugh about anything and everything.

I was looking for the right photo to share and realised that it doesn't get any better than this.

There’s the New Media Workshop 2010 gang, people like Paan and Mark and Grace, and my debate teammates Thuy and Ko (in the middle). We were only thrown together for two weeks, but two weeks is a long time when you’re staying up all night, preparing for debates and bonding over bad food and WiFi. These people were my first friends from all over Southeast Asia, and helped me realise just how lucky I am to be living in this region.

We all went our separate ways after the two weeks, onwards and upwards. With everyone so busy chasing their dreams all the time, it’s never easy to visit each other. If we were together for Christmas, all we’d need are a few beers. And my goodness, Mark is a perv. (I just had to say it, Mark!)

Vui Kong (far right) with his brothers.

There’s Yong Vui Kong, and all the other death row inmates we’ve heard of and fought for.

Vui Kong was not even supposed to have seen Christmas 2009; he had been scheduled to hang in early December 2009, but received a stay of execution at the eleventh hour. Today, he remains on death row, still praying for a second chance at life, a life he is willing to spend behind bars devoting himself to studying Buddhist scriptures. It’s a holiday miracle, a miracle we hope will culminate in clemency for this boy who has learned and changed so much.

Vui Kong’s story was the one that woke me up and made me want to find out more about my country and what it does in my name. His story made me want to become a better person, and I wish that I could have told him that in person this Christmas.

Last, but not least, there’s you, and everyone who’s supported this blog since the beginning. I’ll not mention any names since there have been so many who have been kind enough to leave comments, re-share/retweet posts and recommend this blog to others. I never really expected all this when I first started writing. I’m still learning as I go, and sometimes it feels like I’m just stumbling along blindly. I’m often agonising over how good everyone else’s writing is (just a few hours ago I read a really great post about Singapore that made me admiring and jealous all at once) and how it’s just so difficult to measure up to them, yet there are so many here who have been nothing but encouraging, even though we might disagree from time to time.

This Christmas I just want to thank everyone who reads this silly funny little thing; you’ve made a Spud very happy.

Happy Holidays!

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