This year's edition! As we're preparing to move from Singapore to Belgium.

See all the previous editions here.

It's that time of the year again. The terrible Photoshop card.

And oh boy -- did Ila grow this past year.

As always, Tofu playing "bande apart" -- hanging out by herself, minding her own business, and definitely staying away from Mumu and Taro. Them two boys, on the other hand, lovers as always.

And then, of course, us, getting led by Ila to whatever and wherever Ila wants to go.

As we're out of Singapore, we've tasked Jan to send them for us, from Singapore (⇾ cheaper than from Europe, and one less thing to bring along). 😅

We definitely forgot to add FlatTurtle.com on the backside, now that I'm actively involved again. ;)

I know we said that if we adopted a 3rd cat, we'd skip getting a kid. Oh well.

This year Ila joined us and, as if all stars aligned, it was the perfect set to create baby Jesus' birth. My grandma (bless her) would've been proud... ;)

The cats as the three kings, Joseph and Maria, and of course, the baby.

Every year we have a few cards getting lost (or at least we're not getting a confirmation they made it to their end destination -- many cards head to Europe, USA, Australia, Japan, Singapore, etc. I figure tons of mail must get lost all the time). And those that make it, tend to be damaged or dirty

This year we opted to put everything in an envelope... Also, less likely to offend a prude postman. ;)

Mumu (née Mullet) officially joined us in the 2021 card.

While he was alive and well the year before -- we hadn't decided to adopt him yet -- so not officially part of the family just yet.

His mummy and 2 brothers got adopted shortly after Christmas, and we decided to keep him as a nice memory. And what's one more cat?

We figured, it would be him or a kid... We decided on a cat.

2021 was the year of (more) Google Meet meetings, and hardly heading into the office. So, evidently, this had to be the theme.

Right in the middle of Covid (linking to the Wikipedia article because 20 years from now this will be but a very distant reminder).

With all the lockdowns and travel restrictions, all our travel plans in 2020 (and most of 2021) were cancelled (yes, I book flights sometimes a year in advance). Trips to Paris, Portugal and Stockholm were cancelled, as well as the regular visits to Belgium.

This meant we had to celebrate Christmas in Singapore (and Christmas in Singapore isn't very... Fun -- the vibe is really missing, and it's way too hot). Everything here feels rather fake, and Christmas is truly just to buy shit you don't need. Nonetheless, we did our best with a small (and illegal) assembly, playing board games and enjoying some finger food.

In the card, still only Tofu, Taro, Shan and me -- although Mumu (our 3rd cat) was roughly 6 weeks old by that time. More about him in tomorrow's post.

This year, Taro joined us. Taro was an abandoned cat that we found the day before we moved out of our condo in Potong Pasir.

To this day, Taro is the scared one, although he doesn't shy away from bullying Tofu.

After this, we figured two cats was enough.

As our family grew, we had to start including more into the card. This year, Tofu was introduced.

Tofu was a 6-week-old kitten when we got her. She was likely abandoned by a breeder for her crooked tail. She lacks some social skills and has quite the temper. But nonetheless, she's our Tofu.

Every year, we, Shan and I, send a Christmas card to people we care about (so yeah, sorry if you didn't get one ;)).

The idea is quite simple: bad photoshopping meets something relevant and/or funny.

I just realised we never posted these online, and so maybe it's time to create an archive.

In the coming days I'll be posting, one by one, our previous cards. Front and back. Hopefully this can inspire others to come up with good ideas.

Here goes -- our very first Christmas card from 2017.

Recently visited Ikea and had to get a Christmas star-light like I used to have during my childhood.

Most of my (non-track) light at home is smart using either a TP-Link Kasa smartplug or Philips Hue (and I want to avoid adding more brands, more apps, and more shit). However, Philips Hue is quite $$$ and not always all that easy to get in Singapore (shady retailers, limited stock, not many options).

I knew that Tradfri was technically compatible with the Hue Bridge, but never made the jump as I just wanted things to work (don't want to mess around with lights). Until today. Figured I may as well give it a go.

Surprisingly, everything worked out of the box. I had to do a factory reset (not sure if that's because I kept the light on for ~10 minutes before trying to set it up, or if this was a returned product as clearly the box had been opened before)...

• Turn on light
• Reset light by turning it off and on 6 times
• Open Philips Hue app and search/add light
• Tada... Should work

Side note: it requires a modern firmware (and I assume all lights being sold today have said firmware, but if for some reason you end up with old stock, you may need to update). To update you need the Ikea Bridge though (or... apparently the dimmers/buttons may work as well -- did not test).

All the controls are working as well (dimming, changing colours, etc).