Mom

Just woke up. It's 1.30pm here in Kuala Lumpur. Slept really, really late last night/early this morning. Mom and Dad and their maid flew in from Kuching yesterday to spend Christmas with my sister and I, and we didn't finish unpacking the four huge boxes of food and decorations they brought with them until 5 in the morning.

Me: Mom, this is Kuala Lumpur. We have supermarkets here selling everything and more.

Mom: Son, the best mangoes come from our garden and you know that. And Vee said the turkeys still haven't arrived, so I bought one from our regular cold storage.

Me: Pine cones???

Mom: You picked those yourself when you were at school in the UK. And it's now a family tradition to have them on the dinner table.

Mom has taken over the kitchen and Dad the tv. My miniature toy poodle seems confused by the sudden influx of people into his otherwise serene home and is now hiding under my bed.

Mom has decided that our traditional family Christmas dinner tonight will include guests: my sister's boyfriend James and his mom, Ning and her mom, and Yanie and her mom.

Mom has also re-decorated the living room and moved things around and added her little touches to every nook and cranny and now my home looks pretty festive.

Mom's turkey is being trussed as I write and familiar smells are wafting from the kitchen and this warm, fuzzy feeling is slowly enveloping me. Wait, the air-conditioning's off.

And she managed to do all of the above (read: instruct the maid to do all of the above) whilst I was asleep. Aren't moms wonderful?