A couple of years ago, I shared three Christmas survival tips. Tip number 2 was about making Christmas your own and allowing family members to celebrate in their own way. I remembered this tip when my Dad announced that this year, we would drop all tradition and get Chinese takeaways for Christmas Eve lunch. My head was saying, “WTF?!” but instead I agreed and said, “Great idea!”
In his mind, Christmas is always an exhausting day spent in the hot kitchen cooking loads of food, which is gobbled up in 10 minutes, with the remaining afternoon spent behind the kitchen sink washing dishes. He was having none of that this year! The decision had been made. Place your order, we’re buying lunch from Tong Lok!
KK was horrified and kept wondering if this was a joke. With strong German genes, Christmas Eve is very important to him. Gammon with mustard, roast potatoes followed up with rich fruit cake smothered in marzipan. Having to choose his lunch off a Tong Lok menu was not what he imagined!
We arrived at my Dad’s place around 11 am and exchanged gifts, then headed out to the famed Derrick Avenue in Bruma. Tong Lok is not in the main drag, but rather tucked away outside the beautiful archway to Chinatown. The food didn’t take more than 25 minutes and we were already headed back home, with my Mini filled with the smells of sticky chicken and sweet and sour sauce. My mouth couldn’t stop watering!
The portions from Tong Lok are ginormous and as we chuckled reading our fortune cookie predictions out loud to one another, it was great to sit around the table relaxing. When we looked, it was after 3 pm and KK and I headed home.
It was everything Christmas is supposed to be about. Family, good food, laughter and spending quality time with people you love. Dad, you were right! What a great idea (and hopefully new family tradition?).
KK did get to make his gammon later that night. It was just the two of us. 
What a perfect Christmas Eve! XXX
Keeping up with the Walkers... 
Love this! I hate the excess of Christmas, everyone is so stressed and the amount of money spent is crazy. Especially for families like mine where we see each other all the time, almost daily. I understand (and agree with) the fuss that is made when there are children around but in families with only adults, I find it wasteful.
A couple of years ago we decided that instead of our usual way, we had to each do something for whichever charity we chose and for dinner you could eat whatever you wanted…if it was a peanut butter sandwich, so be it. Ice cream only? Your choice. I chose sushi and others chose fish and/or salads, etc. and, instead of our normal dinner, we sat down together and shared Christmas Eve our ‘new way’. It was superb. Everyone ate what they wanted to, no one had spent hours slaving away and even better no money was wasted but instead good was done. It’s our new tradition and I love it (this year we all chose pizza!).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah that’s lekker! It should be a choice and you should enjoy whatever you choose! Funny you mention peanut butter sandwich because for my 40th birthday, this was my choice of food! A peanut butter and jam sandwich on soft fresh white bread! Sounds like Christmas right there! I think as families change and priorities change, people are starting to relook things and assess what’s important. Traditions that serve no purpose will fall. It’s the “little things” that start to have real meaning. Like pizza for all! X
LikeLike