Christmas Eve fell on Wednesday and this time was something different from the usual staying-at-home or hanging-out-with-volleyball-buddies. My family had a barbecue session at East Coast Park in the late afternoon but things did not go smoothly.

I was lazy and it was never my intention to join in the fun if not for my younger brother preferred the family togetherness and that it was a fresh experience. My brothers did the packing of equipments.

The weather was a total disaster. When the dark clouds first sent a warning, we defied proceeded with plan. We boarded bus 196 and alighted at Parkway Parade to shop in the NTUC supermarket to get the food and some other items. It cost me nearly fifty bucks.

Next, we strolled across the underpass and decided on an empty barbecue pit since all the sheds were taken up. I did not feel secure at first and I knew I was right when a group of youngsters came over to tell us they had booked the pit. We quickly evacuated to one of the empty tables.

It started pouring and we set up the tent before moving the lighted tray over to the entrance. My elder brother’s gears were enough to set up a tiny tentage to house the fire and food. I was glad that I did not bring the better ground map along because the current one was pierced at the four corners. We started mocking at the group of youngsters who “snatched” our pit away.

Soon, we realised that we had made a wrong move of setting up our big ground sheet below our tent. The cheap tent was not waterproof and even though it was good enough to block the rain, any contact with the cloth would cause heavy water diffusion. Our pants started to get wet and it was yet another underwear-wet-wet experience.

I was yearning to get home but it was good enough that I was simply enjoying the serving of food with my mum. The amount of food was just nice for the five of us. As the rain got smaller, my mum, elder brother and his girlfriend went to the MacDonald’s and they got back with another ground sheet to put inside the tent and a new pant for me. Then we started to finish the remaining delicious food.

We waited for the rain to stop before packing everything up and walked back to Parkway Parade to catch bus 196.

We started taking shower once we got home. They planned to catch a movie and eventually managed to persuade me to join in. My main hesitation was the problem of taking a cab home after the movie since we had five persons. They proceeded first to Tiong Bahru Plaza to get the tickets while I accompanied my mum over after taking my bathe.

The Yes Man was quite a good movie. It somehow reflected on my life on the number of opportunities I had given up. I said “No” more than “Yes” in my entire life and I had missed out a lot. I did not have a choice anyway.

After the movie, we tried to get cab but none of the drivers was daring enough to house in five of us and thus we decided to walk home.

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