Just had a christmas dinner for the usual people this year... Preparations were quite crazy.. i started looking at recipes only last night, then today morning, i went to HV cold storage to buy ingredients. and i took like 2 hours. cos i was quite noob so i took quite long. looking around to see if there are cheaper alternatives.. like buying the cheese took me about hour an hour la.. then after that i went to ikea to buy deco.. i was rushing like mad cos i needed to be home by 1pm for my dad to use the car. so i bought stuff like quite quickly and had to be decisive. Then i reached home. put down the stuff, and went out with my dad and mom. my mom dropped me at ntuc thomson plaza.. then i went to buy like plates and forks and spoons and beef for my stew cos it was cheaper there than cold storage.. then reached home 3pm, got everything organised and did the stew at 4pm.. then shifted my table downstairs, then did the macaroni and cheese which took me so long!.. like i was done at 620pm.. then i had to like bring down my laptop, my speakers.. and then i had to go shower.. prepare drinks etc etc... then the girls came and had to do their cooking too so i could breathe a little easy i thought i was like late with my preparations. then the guys just self entertained.. haha then after that cook finish alr, we ate... started with starters like duh. haha. it was good. then slowly ate everything else.. it was really nice.. then we had drinks, dessert... talked a bit, etc etc until 12am then go home.. ohh yeah and skyped junxu too.. it was a nice christmas dinnerrrr

tips for hosting next time:

1) prepare in ADVANCE! you don't wanna have to rush around like a mad dog on the day itself. i think it might be a good idea to get the ingredients a day in advance.

2) Don't invite Joel Pang to your party. He dirties your table cloth within 10 mins of arriving, throws bits of the wine cork at people, pours drinks into people's cups when we're having a toast, then ends up irritating other people so much that they try to squeeze his cup and then u have some splash and a mess. zzzz. then throws other bits of food at people also.

3) it's a good idea to have a ice cooler box to store all the ice and to have plenty of ice.

4) candles shouldn't be placed on the dining table. or underneath the aircon. The aircon actually blows out wind which can extinguish the flame on candles! wow..

5) Don't invite Joel Pang

6) prepare the table, music etc in advance.. i guess if you're cooking, you just wanna be able to focused on cooking on the day itself..

7) prepare the drinks about 12 hours in advanced so they can have time to chill in the fridge

8) make some space in your fridge for other people to put their stuff such as wine

9) don't let food become cold outside, take it out only when we're going to eat soon

10) Use nice napkins. They put a smile on your face.

11) Let people get involved with things and help out..

haha ok it was a really fun time and i enjoy hosting dinners i think and maybe i might like to do this more. I really enjoyed the company thank you you guys who came.. I thank God for having friends like you all.......