Hello everyone! Hopefully, you are all doing great. Merry Christmas 2023!! I hope you feel loved and just know that there are people who love and care about you. God is good even when life is hard and so grateful for you and the life we live. I spent my Christmas holiday going to Surabaya city with my husband, son, mother and brother. We went to Surabaya by car and it took for about an hour from my city, Malang. Not too far, right? I stayed in my brother’s house there for 3 days two nights.
Me, my son Darren, and my husband
We planned this for so long time ago because my son really wanted to my brother’s house. He loves my brother’s house so much and I do not know why exactly. I mean, there is nothing we can do just being at home. He was just pacing here and there in the house. One more thing, maybe he likes the massage chair which is belong to my brother. He loves being with family around.
I got noticed by my brother’s house at that time. There was something different with the house. Yes, there were some paintings on the wall, mostly abstract paintings. My brother is such an art lovers and I think he likes something aesthetic around in his house. Well, I am close enough with him in relation. He is such a nice guy but sometimes he is annoying. He likes teasing and making funny about everything, typical older brother. Sometimes we argue and fight but it does not take long time to make it up. Even he is with my son, he likes to tease him or make jokes until he cried. Maybe my brother is quite entertained with it.
These are some paintings in my brother's house
He lives in Surabaya all alone. He is so independent from the beginning. He started to work out of town after graduating from college. My brother is a good person, hard worker, responsible, loyal and romantic. However, I do not know why he does not have a partner in life yet. He is 36 years old and settled to have a wife. He is looking for a wife actually but it seems so difficult to find. I think he was looking for a high standard of a woman at first but in the end he just should look for a nice and loyal person, isn’t it. He used to be a guy that many girls like and I think he is still the same until now. So, what else is he looking for? He has everything. He has his own house, perfect job, a car, everything except somebody to love. Once I had ever matched my brother with my best friend who was still single too but it seemed like there was a lack of approach and communication so it did not work so well. All I can do is just praying for him, all the best for him anyway.
We arrived at my brother’s house at 3 pm then we went to my father’s grave for a moment. I did not go there for long time enough so that was the moment to relieve my longing after all this time. I remembered that I used to be in Surabaya is just for visiting my father and had quality time with him and now it is so different now. I came to stare his grave and I felt sad. After that, we went to my father’s old house. There were my grandmother and family from my father’s side. My grandmother is a good woman and she is the one who is the closest to my father in his all family. Her face looks like my father’s. They are alike. Also she gave me some money for living, she knows that my family is in not good situation.
After a visit to my father's family's house in Surabaya, we went back to my brother's house and stayed there. My brother's house is very comfortable so my child also enjoys living there. He never whined to ask to go home to himself, he felt at his home there. The next day, December 25th morning, my son wanted to go swimming around the housing complex. There are free facilities there and of course the children will really like it, especially my son. My son used to be a child who was afraid to swim but at that time he really liked it. He wanted to put his body up to his neck in the pool. There were no visitors in the swimming pool that morning, only the three of us, me, my son and my husband were there. So, it was really like a private pool I thought. It was fun, wasn’t it? As long as my son is happy, I am happy.
My son in the swimming pool around the houses
After spending about an hour in the swimming pool we returned to my brother's house. We were getting ready to go for a walk at the Surabaya Mall which is famous for being the biggest mall in Indonesia, Pakuwon. We were waiting for our family from Malang who were also coming to Surabaya to join us for a walk, so we were busy there and the atmosphere was not quiet. We left in 2 cars to Pakuwon Mall, Surabaya. We walked around and looked at what was there. When we got there we went straight to a place to eat called Delipork, a restaurant that specializes in pork. We like to eat pork when we were in Surabaya. It is delicious. Various types of pork are processed into dishes such as chasiu, siobak, baikut, spicy pork, satay, pork noodle, etc. We were eating until we were so full.
After that, we took a walk and took some pictures there. We found a great Christmas tree standing towering there. We decided to take some pictures in front of the Christmas tree. Then we continued to walk around together. However, I did not buy anything because I did not really interest with. My husband and my son also did not buy anything, besides snacks. We bought French fries and crepes there while we were sitting in the long chair. Suddenly, we heard a voice like “Maling… maling…!” loudly. It means a thief. Some people in front of us were running after a man who was called a thief! Finally, that thief was caught and handed over to the security guards. What a mess. I do not know what was going on because there were some people crowded around. I never expected that in this such shopping mall and on a day. How could be someone could steal something that day. Luckily, the thief was not attacked by many people there.
This is my brother
Before we returned to my brother’s house, we drove thru McD and bought fried chicken and rice for dinner at home. We had so much fun with family and my son looked so happy about it. He liked to being around with them because maybe he was bored with his mom and dad. Hahaha. At 7 PM, my family from Malang went back home and they had such a good time with us in Surabaya. Sometimes, they would come with us again on another holiday. My son said that he did not want to go home to Malang and wanted to stay in my brother’s house. If I said about going back home, he would cry immediately. What a kid.
Tomorrow morning, we got ready for going home. My brother who lived there started to go to work. nly me, my husband, my son and my mother left in the house. We would go home to Malang at 10 AM by bus. We had so much fun to stay in Surabaya and we are waiting for the next holiday at new year.
Have a wonderful blessed Christmas! God bless ^^
