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This was a very pleasant Chistmas Eve/Noche Buena. :) Got lots of nifty stuff, all of which I am very grateful for. Ate good food with the good company of a loving family, took lots of cool pictures with my new Marius, and even dressed up in a dress, heels and make up. :) It wasn't any fancier than other Christmases. The only difference really, is that we spent it outside at our garage than inside at our living room, and that Ate Ina and her family only stayed for dinner, and had their own Noche Buena with the Juans back at Merville.
I thank the Lord for the simple things in this year's Christmas. The gifts are just bonuses. But again, all of which I am grateful for. :) Also, a certain personal greeting from a certain friend. Hahaha. :)
Tomorrow, I'm sure it's also going to be more or less the same as past Christmases. Lunch at Pancho Villa then mid-afternoon to dinner at St. Ignatius with the Mantarings and Reidenbachs. I can't wait! I'll prolly blog about that tomorrow. Haha.
Merry Christmas, loves! <3 State of Consciousness:  thankful |
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State of Consciousness:  festive |
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It's Christmas Eve! Already! I can't believe I haven't blogged all month! Goes to show how much has been happening this December. We went to Baguio, then we had a birthday party for Mama Cora in our house and then there was Lia's Christmas play, and finding out the new baby is going to be a boy... It's really the times when there's a lot to write about that I don't get to write. Especially now that my belly has grown, chairs and me, not that good friends. I need my chairs to be cushy and the computer chair can cause a serious butt-ache sometimes. But here I am, just finished with my gift wrapping, grabbing the time to blog.
I used to just shop and shop and shop and then spend all of Dec 23-24 wrapping gifts. But I learned the other year that this is a stupid plan for a pregnant woman. So this year, I staggered my gift wrapping throughout the month, as I accumulated gifts, and it's a good thing I did because last year, inspired by this post, I swore never to buy Christmas wrapper ever again. Instead I collected a giant heap of paper bags from stores, and the biggest wrapping papers from past Christmases. I thought I was all set, but man, it's HARD not using new wrapper! It takes a lot of patience and creativity because if you just use old wrapper the gift looks old too. I mean, a gift should look like a gift, not a piece of garbage. So I had to smooth out all my wrapper, find the area that had the least crumples and no scotch tape marks.. it took several nights and afternoons but I did it! Today I did it! And my gifts didn't look to shabby either. Although, I think, I have to make a concession to children's gifts because for kids I think gifts should look new and inviting and exciting and tearable! So, I don't know, I might bend my rule next year for little kids.
As I may have mentioned before, or maybe a lot, Christmas is a big deal to me. Aside from the glorious childhood memories of presents and parties, the adult me appreciates Christmas because of the year I was suffering a two-month long depression (and I studies psych, so I *know* I was depressed). I tried everything to snap myself out of it, but I couldn't see the end of the tunnel until Christmas came and suddenly I was cured. Our annual Christmas tradition started, the very same, identical Christmas celebration I've had ever since I was born, which was Noche Buena at our house in Katipunan and then Christmas Day at my grandparents in St. Ignatius, and I was suddenly at peace, content, smiling and laughing not just on the outside but also on the inside. And it wasn't the food or the presents (cause I was 19 by then, and the Christmas magic of wonderful toys had long ago faded away), it was being with my family. It was as if God showed me through Christmas that even if I had crappy friends, a lonely non-existent love life and uninspiring academics, He still gave me the best most kick-ass family ever. And not everyone had that. The comfort of having my cousins and all my grandparents at our house for Noche Buena, and knowing that just as this has how it has always been, this is how it will be for the rest of my life, no matter how sucky everything else about my life can be, Christmas was something I can rely on to be the same, and happy and spent with the people who love me most. This was the cure to my teenage angst. And this is the reason Christmas was one of the, if not the most important day of my year. Because Christmas=Family.
This year, my 31st Christmas, will mark the first ever big change to my Christmas tradition. It will be the first time I spend Noche Buena away from Katipunan. Even before Luis, my new nephew was born, Mike asked me how I would feel about making our own Noche Buena tradition. My in-laws are of course more than welcome to join Noche Buena in Katipunan, but now that we have a new baby in the clan, he felt, and I completely agree with him, that we should give him a Christmas tradition that's all about our own family, not as a guest to someone else's Christmas tradition. Knowing how important Christmas has been to me, how my childhood memories are filled with piles of presents, and cousins who have since moved to all corners of the world, and how Christmas was the anchor that stabilized my otherwise chaotic adult life, I knew that this was a gift I wanted to give my children and my nephew. Traditions are important because they are the events in our life that we can rely on. And they are the symbolic activities that make our values real and tangible when they would otherwise be just ideas in our heads. Like the importance of spending time with family, and making our children know and be sure that they are the most important people in our lives.
So with God's gift of a new home for us this year, I (and Mike and Michelle), we give our children the gift of Christmas that is all about family. All those years that my Mom would never allow us to go out with our friends after or before Noche Buena and on Christmas Eve, or travel when Christmas was too near, I never realized it before, but she and my dad must have also disallowed themselves from making Christmas about anything but being together. In the past 30 years she has taught us that Christmas (just like Sundays) are sacred. Set aside for family because that's how you make your family important. And now I have my own kids, it's time we began our own traditions to show them the magic and wonder of Christmas. For now they're little, so it's all about presents. But hopefully later on, they will know that it's all about us being together and how much we love them.
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Dec. 23rd, 2009 @ 05:30 pm
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Sniffing around for an open door to do illustration work in Manila. So hard when you've been out of the network for 4 years. I need a place to start! Don't want to leave without planting seeds. |
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That had been one of the most uneventful birthdays ever. First, it rained. And then I got sick. Whatup?
But I can't deny that it had been one of the happiest. :)
Thank you to everyone who greeted! Especially those who spent the last moments of my birthday with me! Bidz, Raech, Chris, Raschid, Kelly, Pjay, Guiller and Carlo Yao. Special thanks to you for bringing me home. ;)
My birthday could have been more eventful, but I honestly wouldn't have asked for more.
Much loves, friends! Gaiz, I'm twenty! Hahaha! Woohoo!
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I'll copy Ate Ina, and make a list of 20 thinks I thank God for. She always says that imitation is the best form of flattery. Haha. :D
1. The most loving and supportive parents in the world. I love you, Mom and Dad! :D
2. The most influential siblings in the world! Ate Ina, Kuya Norman, Kuya Carlo (I miss you!) and Ayo. <3
3. The best most crazily vain extended family in the world! Whatup, Juans, Mantarings and Lapids. :D
4. Friends. I don't know where I'd be and who I am without you guys. Shout outs to my Goodtaims Babes, Grip and TS people, Theater friends, Steps Friends, Miriam Friends, Camp Explore, Slasherz, and everyone else. You know who you are. MACH LAVS!!
5. My house, our cars and our house help.
6. My own room and bathroom.
7. Food, water, clothes and electricity.
8. Studying my dream course in my dream school. And knowing I work hard for it.
9. Internet. Fast, working internet. And the websites I visit on a regular basis. Namely, YahooMail, LJ, Multiply, Facebook, Plurk, Google, Wiki and YouTube. Oh, and YM and Skype.
10. Hanschen, Ilse, Demetrius, Diana, Yumi, Jason and Peter. My phone, iPod, camera, laptop, external hard drive, CD player and docking station respectively.
11. Marius, my new DSLR. :D
12. Climbing, my climbing gear and Power Up Tandang Sora. I'd probably be insane now if it weren't for climbing. Thank you, God, for climbing.
13. Theater, Musical Theater and Broadway.
14. Music. In general. And Sugarfree. :)
15. My glasses and contact lenses.
16. Financial stability. Haha.
17. This Christmas vacation! We were supposed to have rehearsals today and even on 28-30. EH.
18. Being a Filipino and living in the Philippines. <3
19. Boys. Just because they make my life colorful. HAHA.
20. Twenty wonderful years life, love and happiness. :D
Merry Christmas, loves! <3 State of Consciousness: grateful |
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my Christmas break starts today. woohoo! hope I can at least finish Mario Galaxy and Suikoden Tierkreis before going back to work next year.State of Consciousness:  excited |
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congrats to Nicole and her partner, Kang, for the debut performance of their duo, AiDoll, yesterday at SM Marikina during the SM Cyberzone Cosplay Tour! :DState of Consciousness: excited |
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our company Christmas party this year was spent at an orphanage run by the Virlanie Foundation. it was tiring but a lot of fun. the kids were shy at first but quickly unwound once games involving dancing started. lordy, I heard Nobody more in three hours than I had in the last few months combined.
our favorite kid there was one we referred to as Gangsta for obvious reasons.
seriously, he looked like that in every shot he posed for.
today we had a sort of second Christmas party at Big Buddha in Greenbelt 3. it was really just a venue to have our exchange gift but it also meant having a two-hour lunch break. no complaints there.State of Consciousness:  tired |
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Yo, Arturo! Rehearsals on my birthday? WHATUP??
Goodbye Baguio, gaiz. Huhuhuhu...
</3
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Everyday life was so much simpler then.
To me at least.
I'm thinking of just giving up my mobile phone.
It's been such a source of stress, pressure, drama.
Well.
Lately.
Gone are the days of my inbox being filled with just cheap and politically incorrect humor.
This whole deal got me thinking what would qualify as "90's lifestyle"?
Aside from the clothes, I mean. I've more or less got that down.
Am I restricted to just playing Tekkens 1 to 3?
Dial-up internet connection?
Animated GIFs of fireballs ang skulls on my blogs?
Pog and Chocnut at 3PM?
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Funny. I used to moan about how lonely I felt. Now that I'm getting all this attention - I don't think I want it anymore.
Nakaka.... umay.State of Harmony: Alice in Chains - Heaven Beside You |
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Special birthday wish:
BAGUIO.
I will give up everything on my previous list to go outdoor climbing in Baguio on the 21st-23rd with climbing friends. I think it will be my chance to redeem myself. PLEASE MAKE THIS HAPPEN.
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so I finished my Christmas shopping today. not a difficult feat since I'm only buying for four people and half of them were already given their gifts. anyway, I took a second to think about the gifts I bought. three were specifically suited to their recipients by virtue of being either on their wishlist or something they were really into. the last one, however, was rather generic. the unfortunate implication comes from the fact that that last one was for a girl that shot me down.
though in my defense, that was a desperation gift. my original plan was something I was absolutely sure she would love. problem was that it was only available through an online store and the people running it were horribly unprofessional. seriously, two weeks and they didn't bother checking their email for orders? not being willing to meet up with potential customers because they don't feel like leaving the house? forget it.State of Consciousness: blah |
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