Together for the holidays | The Star

HAVING a name like “Christmas” garners a lot of attention for Christmas Tan and he’s often asked about his curious moniker.

“The name was given to me by a church pastor. I was about to start my first job and thought having an English name would be cool and so I consulted him.

“Since I had always taken part in the church’s Christmas activities, he suggested that I adopt the name of the yearly celebration,” said Tan, 39, who is now a wealth planner in an insurance company.

Born Tan Kek Yoong, the Kajang native and father of two, was then actively involved in church activities, visiting old folks and children’s homes as well as taking part in gotong-royong activities.

Tan (right) with (from left) his wife Jessie Ong, and daughters, Angel and Christabelle.

“One year, the pastor asked me to play Santa Claus during a Christmas party at a children’s home, as I was quite tall and bulky. It was a nice feeling being appreciated by the children,” recalled Tan.

Today, he continues to make Christmas special for his family, especially his daughters Angel, 11 and Christabelle, 10.

“They have their own Christmas stockings which are hung by their beds so I can put in Christmas presents the night before.

“They used to believe in Santa Claus but that only lasted till they were five. I think it was Christabelle who caught me sneaking presents into her stocking.”

Time to be with family

For Gina Hendroff, 66, and her husband, Don Eric, 73, Christmas is the time when the family gets together.

“There was not a time when we celebrated Christmas apart,” said Hendroff, a retired business manager.

Curiously, every year around Christmas, Hendroff said her home in Shah Alam receives surprise visits by animals looking for shelter,

“We’ve had a hedgehog, which we kept for a year before it was given away. We’ve had ducks straying into our backyard.

Hendroff (left) slicing her sugee cake while her son, Joel, does a taste test.

“This year, we had a dog coming right up to our front gate as well as a tortoise which my daughter Charlene rescued a week ago,” said Hendroff.

No doubt, the dog and the tortoise will be joining the family’s menagerie of pet snakes, lizards and fish for the Christmas celebrations.

Annually, Hendroff actively participates in her church’s choir rehearsals in preparation for the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day masses.

Her son Joel, 40, and son-in-law, Kuhan Arasalingam, 43, will put up the Christmas decorations.

“My grandchildren, Ayden Arasalingam, nine, and his brothers, Ryker, six, and Kyle, two, love the lights. They’ll be bugging us to put up the decorations early,” said Hendroff.

The season will also see the home kitchen wafting with the heavenly smell of Hendroff’s sugee and fruit cakes.

On the eve, her shepherd’s pie and roast chicken will appear.

As Joel’s birthday is on Dec 18, there have been times when the family held double celebrations on Christmas Day.

“Usually, on Christmas Eve, we skip dinner and come back for a delicious supper after midnight mass. We open the presents right after.

“The next day, we invite our friends and relatives to come for lunch and the partying and dancing lasts till 3am the next day,” she added.

Hendroff and her new daughter-in-law Deborah Florentin Jeremiah, 37, have relatives living in the Portuguese Settlement in Melaka.

There was a year when the family travelled to Ujong Pasir to enjoy the festivities with family there and the merry Christmas atmosphere, since every house in the settlement is decorated with lights.

Home is where the heart is

Mary Salang, 49, from Sarawak, has been based in Peninsular Malaysia for the past 30 years.

But every Christmas, the ethnic Iban training consultant and her 18-year-old son Arvin Dylan, will fly back to Kuching where her parents are residing.

“I have not missed going home for Christmas since I was 35 years old,” said Mary.

In addition to attending church with her parents, Mary looks forward to the ngabang (“visiting” in the Iban language) and open houses.

Her family will usually host no less than 100 guests on Christmas Day.

The highlight of the celebrations sees her father, Alfred, 73, doing the ngajat, a traditional Iban dance.

(From right) Newlyweds Morrow and Mary doing the ‘ngajat’ with Alfred (in batik shirt) and Arvin (left) during the couple’s wedding reception that doubled as a Christmas party in Kuala Lumpur. — Photos: MUHAMAD SHAHRIL ROSLI and LOW LAY PHON/The Star

This Christmas will be a special one for Mary who has just married Andy Morrow, 54, a Scottish engineer.

Her parents flew to Kuala Lumpur for the reception before returning to Kuching in time for Christmas.

“Behind every successful celebration lies good planning, cooperation and teamwork,” she added.

Mary, who is the second of four siblings, is the planner and will conduct discussions on Christmas celebrations well ahead of time with her family via group chat.

In a nutshell, Mary is in charge of the guest list and menu, her mother Doreen, 66, handles the cooking, while her two sisters, Jackie, 51, and Emma, 38, do the cleaning and decorating.

The heavy lifting, cleaning the curtains and the carpet are assigned to her brother, Robin, 46.

To ensure that cooking takes place immediately after attending the Christmas mass at church in the morning, preparation of the ingredients is done the day before.

Among Doreen’s signature dishes is kacang ma (a herbal chicken dish) and black pepper beef.

“My family is a mix of many different races. For example, my husband Andy is Scottish.

“My brother’s wife is Filipino and they have five children,” said Mary.

She said her sister will have her long-time partner coming from Belgium to celebrate with them as he has been doing for the past three years.

“What we value most is spending time together,” she added.

After a day of feasting and merry making, the family will usually head to the beach the next day to rest and relax.

“I also make it a point to go to the Kuching Waterfront to buy kek lapis and enjoy a meal of Sarawak laksa,” said Mary.

Bonding with friends

Jasmine Rajah, 33, of Sabah, has been spending the past three Christmas holidays at her sister’s house in Seremban.

The Kadazan who is a freelance business strategist, has been making it a point to have pre-Christmas meet-ups with her good friends to celebrate their friendship.

Having come to Kuala Lumpur from Penampang as a student 12 years ago, Jasmine said she would turn to her friends to banish the loneliness when she was not able to join her family for Christmas.

This year, she met up with two friends, artiste Elvira Arul, 44, and Idzaid Idros, 37, an engineer, at a restaurant in Kampung Attap, Kuala Lumpur.

On Christmas Day, Jasmine (foreground) spends time with (from left) her niece, Luna, sister Jacintha, mother Caroline Koh, ­nephew Kai and brother-in-law Armand Kugan.

“We’ve known each other for three years and this is our second Christmas gathering.

“Though we do meet on other occasions, the festive season is when we’ll get dressed up and go to a nice place to make the season more meaningful.

“Presents are not necessary as everybody’s presence is a present in itself,” she added.

For Jasmine and her family, Christmas is now celebrated in Kuala Lumpur.

“Since my niece and nephew were born, my mother has been flying to Kuala Lumpur to celebrate Christmas with us.

“We enjoy spoiling the children with presents,” she said of the toddlers.

“There are six of us and the grandest meal we’ll be having is Christmas dinner.

“Food is cooked by my mum and sister. Usually, mum will cook the main meat dish, like ayam masak kicap or sup ayam lihing (rice wine).

“I help with cleaning the house. We’ll play Christmas songs all day and spend time at home watching TV.

“We grew up in a single-parent household, so we’ve grown accustomed to spending time together at home, just enjoying each other’s company,” said Jasmine.