Festive Moods

I love Christmas. We went to AMK Hub for dinner. Entering the basement carpark, the piped-in Christmas carols can be heard easily over my car stereo system. The sound of Christmas music lifts my moods.

When I first immigrated to Canada, life was very miserable. We went there in Feburary thinking it will be spring or close to spring. What does a person who live all his life in the tropics know about the seasons?! I did the regular maths - divide the calendar by 4. December being the last month of the year must be the end of winter. I only found out later from my colleagues that Feburary is the coldest month for the Toronto. So it was freezing and looking for jobs in Toronto is not easy. Every job interview, the key question or statement is do you have "Canadian experience"? I learn that "Canadian Experience" was applied to white immigrants from Britain and Europe as well.

First winter in Toronto was hard and this is an understatement! I found my first job through "connection" which is from a friend of a friend. Then I managed to work as a temp in the company I worked for in Singapore and eventually converted to a permanent position and moving on the bigger responsibilities.

Working in Canada makes me appreciate Christmas. The malls will be decked with Christmas decorations, Santa Claus will be prowling the mall shouting Ho-Ho-Ho and giving out candy. Our company will shutdown for 9 to 10 days from Christmas Eve to New Year. Every employee will be given ham or Turkey and the President or Vice-President of the company will hand it over personally to us(we still have to queue for it). There will be a lot of excitement counting down to Christmas and watching out for snow. White Christmas is something all of us like to have. During the Christmas/New Year shutdown, we will be visiting friends and inviting friends and colleagues over. I will have the fireplace light-up. It is easy with gas fireplace. It is nice, toasty warm inside while outside is below freezing. We will be exchanging stories and enjoying the food. It was fun and enjoyable especially to watch snowstorm from inside the windows of our home and need not drive to work.

Yes, Christmas is coming and I love it!