The Never Ending Christmas Story Dec 2013

As the Never Ending Christmas story writer and video producer, each December month of a new year becomes a challenge to get out the story and produce the video clip with deadlines for the story by the 25th and the video clip by 31st Dec of that year. Using the  'Blog Archive' section found on the top right of every post, one can click the month of December of the year 2006 and find the first Christmas story that was written.

In Dec 2007 the first video clip was created with photos from the story of the previous year with more additions. You can view it below and learn at the end of it what prompted the beginning of this series that had become known as 'The Never Ending Christmas Story'.

This year for 2013 that is soon coming to a close, the story is influenced by spiritual events that occurred to me in Singapore which led me to my recent trips to Penang Island in Malaysia and later to the city of Medan Indonesia for the purpose of family history research. It caused me to reflect upon our cultural heritage not just from the viewpoint of our ancestors but also from the aspect of our modern culture today consisting of our religion and the location of where we live as travel and migration becomes more common in our modern times. Then there is also the Internet culture! My first thoughts about culture can be read in the year 2005 when I first started blogging. One post was entitled "Want some M & Ms?" and the other is "What more is there in the M & M culture?"

Here goes....

In the year 2005 when Dad first began blogging to follow the oldest daughter Fei who started first, this was how Mom and Dad chatted through the comments of a post :

5 comments:

Han said...

WoW...that's nice to hear from you. If you're reading this in time...Su left her Dell laptop and skate board at the slc airport. So when you arrive, can u pls pick them up for her?

Blur Queen

1:59 PM 

Dad the KL city kid said...

Hmmmm isn't the modern world confusing these days when people with real names get to choose nicks to communicate in and then they decide to use some other person's real name and identify themselves with yet another nick!! Heheh

I still have another 5 hours to go so tell me if it's to be found at the lost & found department or was it baggage unclaimed?

3:40 PM 

Singapore Girl said...

yup, pls try at the lost and found. The skate board was checked in, it has a tag. Not sure if this would be at the lost and found or would be at the unclaimed baggage. I tried calling su but no one answered the phone.

Blur Queen again

7:01 PM 

Dad the KL city kid said...

I am still blur! At which point in time was the skateboard lost? After collecting it at the carousel? Surely the laptop wasn't checked in too right so where and when was that lost? Be mindful what time you are calling Utah and try Richard's cell number found in the mail to Su that I had cced you.

I'm boarding in about 20mins time as my departure time is 9.10pm and we are 1 hour ahead here in Seoul.

1 Blur Queen + 1 Blur King = 1 Blur Daughter right? ...or could it be 6 blur kids!!!!! hahaha

7:30 PM 

Singapore Girl said...

aiyah, i think you left already. We're at British council now. Her laptop was left on the trolley station. She absent mindedly put the labtop down to retrieve a trolley and forgot to take it along. I'm not so sure about the skate board.

You can still read this at LA?

8:25 PM 

Yes, Dad had married the Singapore Princess who later called herself the blur Queen above

They had a great life together like a King and Queen

They had seen the sunrise and the sunset together

Producing 6 great kids who were sometimes blur too

Like the second daughter Su when she was on a flight alone to the USA as recorded in the above comments of the blog post

Blur enough to think, act and dress like the cartoon character Vanellope!

Guess it runs from the family as her older sister is just as blur thinking she is Knives Chau!

We were all very sad to lose our beloved Queen who passed away on 6 Nov 2012

So Dad became the lone Blur King

His world suddenly began to change before him but not in a manner of uncontrollable chaos but with a constancy amid change attitude that was possible by what he had nurtured in his life and that of his family known as the M culture.

Now this was more powerful than the strategy of the O which was Only a strategy for Optimal Time usage as shared in the Dec 2010 Never Ending Christmas Story

From Dad's and Mom's belief in Modern revelation and the acceptance of the Book of Mormon as another testament of Jesus Christ before they even met each other and later when they united their lives together in Marriage, the family of 6 children were all born and raised in Malaysia under the guidance of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints more commonly known as the LDS or Mormon Church. This was the root of how the M culture started!

Dad was even called as a Missionary by a Modern day prophet named Spencer W Kimball seen on the left above working with living apostles too such as Howard W Hunter seen on the right.

Becoming a Missionary was a free choice for the 2nd oldest who was called to serve 18 mths in Oakland California Mission as a Mandarin Speaking Missionary wearing a badge to represent her country of birth which is Malaysia

The oldest daughter Fei chose Marriage as her first choice and was sealed in the Mormon Temple in Logan, Utah for all time and eternity. You could say she was blur or blind in love but nevertheless made a worthy choice of being Married to a fine Man indeed.

The second daughter Su after her Mission also Married a fine man and they were sealed in the Mormon temple in Salt Lake City, Utah for all time and eternity.

The sealing ordinance performed in the Mormon temple for the parents is greatly appreciated by Dad when Mom passed on as it gives assurance that they can be together again in the after life thus giving all relationships in this world a more eternal Meaning. 

Soon the oldest boy chooses to go on a Mission too and was called to be a Mandarin speaking Missionary in Manchester UK also holding the Malaysia flag to represent his country of birth where he is also able to speak the Malay language.

In the year 2007 there was a major Migration for the boys to study in Singapore since Mom had started cancer treatment there in the previous year. There was a choice to become Permanent Residents in the country and all did so except the oldest boy Han and his Dad.

This resulted in the 2nd oldest Shuan to be required to serve compulsory Military service for 2 years whether he was a Prince or not! This was the National Service culture of Singapore and he had decided to serve his voluntary Mission for his Church after finishing this required service for the island state.

National Service is serious Military training and isn't quite like what Dad thinks in the 'playing soldier' pic that was taken many years earlier when the family was just visiting Singapore during the holidays.

To graduate from the 9 wks of Basic Military Training, after all the drills they had received over the training period, on the eve of the last day, the soldiers had to carry a full pack of all their belongings to march 24km from the camp to the Marina Bay Floating Platform where the 'Passing Off' parade for all the recruits will take place.

At one go, all the Boys would throw up their hats in one instance to finally become Men as the crowd of parents and friends cheered them on! After that they would be allowed to go home for a week before being designated to different divisions of the Armed Forces of Singapore. Shuan was among the few to be selected to be sent to the Officers Cadet School to spend 9 months there for specialized training before being deployed to a unit of the Military. Recently he told his Dad he had detonated T.N.T. explosives on his own as part of the training!

As we talk about the core of the family's Migration to Singapore, a look at the Map of Singapore's strategic location for shipping at the Mouth of the Straits of Malacca from the early days shows why it has been a conducive place for many families in the Asia region to come to Singapore anciently as well as today.

As most of the Migrants are Chinese, there is a special Month where they believe the Ghosts will roam around on earth and so burnt offerings of special paper are being made daily. Such is the culture of most of the Chinese people.

As Mormons who believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior with the Angel Moroni from the Book of Mormon placed on top of our LDS Temples symbolizing the restoration of the Gospel, a different Ghost or Spirit filled Dad's Mind. Dad the King also believed Mom who had crossed over to the Spirit World was sending him Messages to follow up urgently with our Family History Work.

Call it spiritual promptings or Dad the King living up to his given name of Sun Fu which means'Mountain of Luck' or 山福, he managed to come across a youtube video made on the 100th anniversary of the death of his great grand father Tjong Yong Hian in Medan Indonesia.  From the video, he learnt of the name of Budihardjo Chandra (Chang Hung Kuin), who shared a Mutual great grand father. He wrote many Mails to the Man but received not a single reply

Soon Dad the King began to feel frustrated and stood up from his throne, held up his kris to further commit to himself that he must Mentally focus to get the job done no matter what it costs!

He manage to find two fair Maidens to assist him as they fly together to Medan, the King acting undercover as an orindary Man

They spent the first two days tirelessly in Medan city trying to find the Tjong Yong Hian Museum but every taxi driver or guide let them to that of the younger brother named Tjong A Fie. Finally they found the Man they were looking for who provided the King with important books of Tjong Yong Hian, their mutual great grand father that he was looking for.

The King provided the Maidens with a great holiday away from the city in the resort of Lake Toba as a reward for their assistance.

Alone he began to think, 'What if....he left his throne permanently and became just an ordinary Man

An ordinary Man who could at an instant turn to a Super Man....

...take off from the sea level...

...to reach the top of the mountains!

but he would choose to fly home first...

... to save his own kids at home before attempting to save the world

... until they could be sufficiently Mature as that is what the blur Queen would want

....in this online or offline world!

The youngest two teenager sons and a friend were taken offline after Christmas to join a group exploration of some caves in Malaysia. This was in preparation for them to become real Men before they enter Military training.

They learn to hike through jungle trails

Walk into large caves...

...as well as crawling through small tunnels

Even go through underground caves with Muddy water

Abseiling down cave walls as Ern is seen doing

As well as Ray

Learning to start a fire with 3 Matches and cook a raw egg

...and leading the group with some strategic war games as well

Finally all were awarded a certificate for successfully completing a course of professional cave exploration or in Dad's interpretation, a prerequisite of becoming a real Man or even Super Man!!!

The End atau Tamat!

Here is the video version :

The link to the video is found here. Han's original Youtube video where the soundtrack came from has over 10k views

(Postdated comments/correction : The original youtube video with the song used in the Christmas video can be googled or found with search engine using the words, "Why won't you be baptised?", or click here.

Here is another special filmed in Indonesia :

The link to the video is found here.

Here are some photos taken or posted on Christmas Day 2013

This symbolism of the Christmas Tree was shared with all this Christmas in facebook. Then the photo below was posted with Dad's comments which had over 30 people liking it and some leaving their comments :

Post by Sun Fu Chong.

We had a hi-tea gathering with Mom's side of the family at the usual Singapore Raffles Town Club

We gathered at the grand piano for a perfect picture with Shuan, our family and Church pianist playing for us!

More picture taking at home in the Medan tee shirt Dad got for everyone

Of course we always have to take a silly shot haha! We're missing Elder Chong and after receiving his email on how he spent his Christmas, we can see that he took a silly shot for himself too!

This is the caption from his email, "And finally, a photo of a little yellow man high five-ing another little yellow man!"

Talking about Minions or Dad with his Mountain of Luck, the above photo came out on the Star Paper on Christmas day in a photo taken on the Eve when he got some last minute deals with a young lady, holding a yellow Minion, who had just come down from KL to join him and another young man from KL for our get together in Singapore....

... at the Jurong East Swimming Pool Complex as we had done so on Easter weekend of the same year. Guess we are all yellow people eh? HoHoHo!

The M Culture theme of our Story will certainly be more fun if we play the Minions Song below :

Yes indeed Christmas time is a fun time for everyone even if they do not know the true meaning of Christmas. Perhaps that is why there are over 80,000 full time Mormon Missionaries around the world at this time of the year helping many appreciate the true Meaning of Christmas.

Now if you could enjoy the Minions singing in their own language even though you couldn't understand anything, try listening to David Archuleta singing in the language of South America by clicking his youtube videos here. It auto plays a series of his Music that you can enjoy not only for Christmas but can be played on any Sabbath day or Sunday when you really want to feel the true meaning of Christmas on this special day of the week. Even if you don't understand the language at first, relax and continue to see if you can feel the Spirit of the M culture as it is beyond the language alone that we may understand!

If you don't like the advertisements on youtube videos, here is one that is free from them of David Archuleta and better still, this video clip is the latest of him from his Christmas concert in the year 2013!

2013 Concierto de Navidad- David Archuleta from Dad the KL City Kid on Vimeo.