Christmas Day!

Today is Christmas day and as usual, I celebrated it with family.

We were fetched by my Uncle Danny and I sat in front.

We went to my sister's house. We were early but that's always okay.

The food consisted of steak, chicken inasal, embutido, fresh lumpia, chicken salad, Asian salad, buko gelatin, fruit salad. There were chocolates, marshmallows, chips, softdrinks.

We didn't play mah jongg this time.

There was a lot of kwentuhan and picture-taking, of course.

There was gift-giving. I received a USB Flash Drive, two hair clips, and black eyeliners. Little things give me a lot of joy!

All too soon, we had to leave.

I am still in the mood to go out but I couldn't find anybody to go out with. So here I am at home, facing the computer...

What are my Christmas thoughts?

When I was a little girl, I soooh looked forward to Christmas! I was excited, I could barely sleep, I wanted to know the presents that I will be receiving. And the all the delicious food I was bound to eat!

Now that I am 48 years old, the excitement is gone. But the spirit is still here in my heart. Because the reason for the season is Jesus Christ. And I am glad that we are celebrating Christmas because we are all glad that Christ was born to save us.

I love my family and every opportunity and time I have with them, is time well spent.

So, although this day's celebration is quite "bitin", I still greet everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Family Reunions

Ever since I could recall, Christmas has always been spent with my family members - my extended family (including aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, nephews and nieces). Today was no different. I always enjoy the company of my family. I have been blessed with a close-knit family whose members do not mind seeing each other as often as possible. I would say we find time to gather together at least once a month...a special occasion like Christmas, New Year, our Dad's death anniversary, couple's anniversary, birthdays, etc.

It is like we have an insatiable desire to be with each other perhaps because we stayed together, lived together for the longest time. Once upon a time, we - my parents and us five siblings - lived together in a big house (I mean, home) in Diliman, Quezon City. Even when each of us got married one by one, we stayed in that place for as long as possible. Since it was such a huge house, we would invite many relatives, and even those from far away Batangas would come and visit.

Ah, Christmas! What a fun, fun day! A beautiful time to spend special moments which will be added to our special memories.

It's not just the food, of course. The shrimp royale, the lengua, the lumpiang sariwa, the kaldereta, the lechon, the pancit, the barbecue, and so on. It's not just the gifts and the cash distributed by older members of the family to the younger ones. It's not just the picture-taking, the wearing of nice clothes, the exchange of stories.

It's all about celebrating the birth of our Saviour TOGETHER as a united family, as one, no matter how many we have become. Like all the Christmases in the past, this has been a truly blessed day!

(And I was able to write about it in my blogsite in record time.)