Okay... I got some time today so here's the 2nd part of my 'vacation trilogy'... teehee...
Dec. 22 (Sunday)
Tonight was supposed to be Papa's birthday party but when they met up last Thursday, almost everybody who was sure to come weren't available for one reason or another so they moved it up for tomorrow night. I spent the whole day wrapping gifts... can you imagine?... I started at 10 am and finished at 9 in the evening. I enjoyed the bag-making part but wrapping the boxes was a fit. I don't know... just never was into this artsy-craftsy thing... but this isn't saying I didn't do them as nicely as I could though. I know that part of the joy of receiving a gift is getting it nicely wrapped and all. Still, whenever I'd find I hadn't done a gift nicely, Anna would say... 'di bale ate, hindi naman yan ang regalo e'. She had to say it often enough that it's become a joke between us. Elena asked me to teach her how to make the bag and later joined me, even doing more bags than I did.
Kuya Bob (Nancy's brother and Papa's schoolmate at Notre Dame... Nancy is my cousins Al's and Leslie's childhood friend, and Nancy, my cousins and Papa were all neighbors... talk about small world but I've been into this before) called... I think he arrived last night from the US for Pong's (younger brother) wedding. He was supposed to come tonight but learned that it was moved for tomorrow and was calling to verify and to say that if it was happening tomorrow, then he couldn't make it. Too bad cause it's been a while and I wanted to ask him about Nancy. Still, it was fun to note how many people were coming home for the holidays. Maybe if we keep on teasing people about coming home, more and more will do just that.
In the evening, I went to our bibingka stall... it was the last night they were selling bibingka and they had a lot of help this time. Tatang's sister (whom I got to calling Auntie and never really knew her name) and her daughter, Yeye. Tatang's daughter, Josephine, was also there. Again it was a lot of fun, specially because Tatang didn't have to do the cooking and had time to play around and make us laugh. I didn't really get to do much as they were almost done for the night when I joined them... I was just in for the company.
Dec. 23 (Monday)
Needless to say, it was a busy day. It's Papa's birthday party which traditionally has become Notre Dame's annual Christmas Party. Well, not everybody in their batch from Notre Dame came year after year... only their group which through the years has dwindled to just a handful... for the same old reason... some of them have moved out of the country and one, for the past several years, has simply become unavailable (whassup boyet?... whats-a happenin' dude?). Edwin... now this guy... he didn't use to join them when Papa and I first got together... but for the past several years, he's been to most, if not all, get-togethers... birthdays, kids' birthdays, christening... he too is a bag of laughs and really cool... I'll never forget the way he openly craved for the spaghetti, which Darlene cooked late into the evening.
I had a bit of an inspiration this year. Instead of preparing everything myself, I spread the labor around, so to speak. For the lengua, of course I had to ask my mom to do it. For the lumpiang shanghai (a tradition in these gatherings), I asked my mom-in-law. I also asked her to cook her menudo, which is a personal favorite. For dessert, I asked Lolet to make buko-pandan salad. And after finding out that Anna can whip up a pretty good dinuguan, I added that to the menu. For beef, of course it was Papa's pepper steak. That left me with only the pork inihaw to marinade (for succeeding gatherings, there would still be inihaw but I would be replacing the marinade with a basting of Aling Nene's sauce, courtesy of Lolet, just about when it's almost cooked... a further reduction of time and effort... which, in this day and age of globalization, is the name of the game... teehee). The last dish to be served was spaghetti... which Darlene and Anna cooked together. For the first time in years, I was out with the guests and not tied to the kitchen as has always been the case, coming out only after everybody's had their full or when the last guest has eaten.
Late in the afternoon, Darlene and Bong came... and then there was Dennis Dabu, Mon, Edwin and Rey Opena. After a while, Dennis Dalusong came with Mommy, Dante and Janet. And then there was Lolet and her family, Tatang and his family and later in the evening, Lando and his family. There weren't as many people as in the past, which seems to be the way the cookie crumbles through the years, but it's ok. We still had our laughs, the same old stories told again and again over the years, the same gusto in eating the food and gulping the drinks (Papa bought a 2-liter bottle of Fundador which Antonia said, when she saw the pictures, looked like a bottle of cooking oil... hehehe).
Before Dennis Dalusong left, they had their traditional exchange of gifts. Papa got a tool box courtesy of Mon and Mon got a personalized CD collection, I think about 20 CDs or so, collected by Papa through downloads for over a year... that should be about the best gift ever cause they love the same kind of music and much of the songs mean a lot to them and to the rest of the group, for one reason or another. They even talked about passing it around so everybody can have their time with the CDs...:) Then Darlene and I gave out our gifts for the wives, which in their absence, the husbands received. I'll never forget Dennis Dabu's face when he received them... he looked so touched, like we haven't done it before. Oh hell... why is everybody getting so sentimental?... does it have something to do with age?... come one guys, it's rock and roll!
Before everybody has gone, we managed to get some group pictures. Some turned out really funny. Looking at those pictures now, I just wish everybody was there... Egay, Danny, Alvin and Emeng. I wish everybody brought their wives and kids... I just miss the crowd being complete, is all. I miss the outings we had... to the beaches, to Baguio, to Tagaytay, to nearby resthouses... even simple get-togethers without occasions, where we'd spend a Saturday afternoon in somebody's garage, with the men drinking and cooking, and the women eating and chatting. Yeah, sure had it rockin' and rollin'... Damn, I miss those years...
Dec. 24 (Tuesday)
It's Christmas eve tonight... tomorrow, it's Christmas day.
Kuya Bong and family stayed the night and left after breakfast. Oh by the way, I delivered today the 9 kilos of ham that I sold. Earned about 300 bucks from it. It's not much but I started really late selling it. For whatever it's worth, it was fun. Maybe I'll come earlier next year and make a real profit. Mommy sold 70 kilos... imagine that.
I still had a few gifts left to wrap and spent a good part of the morning doing just that. Lolet and her family, and Tatang and his family, all went to visit relatives. Having nobody to chat with, Papa stayed home, painted a bit and slept a lot. Well, he deserves it, poor Papa... he's been working hard the whole year, a lot of sleep should do him good now that he has the time. At 4 pm Papa hitched a ride (he had to get the car at Bong's house in QC so we'll have something to use tomorrow when we go house-hopping for Christmas) with Elena who was going to meet Ting (back from a 2-month training in the US) at the airport.
Early in the evening, the commotion started. Everybody has returned and started preparing for the street party we were having to celebrate the eve. People kept coming and going to borrow, return or ask back cooking utensils that have been going the round of houses... hehehe... this is something really Filipino and I just love it. We cooked spaghetti as our share of the feast, and brought along left-over colas and beer from Papa's party. Lolet made fried dumplings and macaroni salad.
We started the party at 10pm with music loudly playing, 3 tables set on the street fronting Lolet's house and 2 families joining together, with our dog Datu tagging along. Later in the night, we were joined by Arch. Baluyut (whom everybody fondly calls just plain 'Architect') and his wife Rose, who brought some fruits. Still later, we were joined by Dr. Crisostomo (whom everybody fondly calls just plain 'Doc') and his wife, Ate Aster who brought a pineapple upside-down cake (since Dec. 25 is Anna's birthday, somebody thought of bringing out one big candle, probably from the All Saint's Day feast last November, and stuck it on the cake... we sang happy birthday, had Anna blow the candle and cut an 8th of the cake from which we forced her to take a huge bite... it was a riot and a lot of fun... I know it made Anna very happy). We kept calling Tatang and asking him what time he was coming up. We almost gave up on him but he did come, saying he couldn't get away from his cousins.
The party went well into the wee hours of the morning and all the time people were laughing and making small talk. The men gathered around the curb with Tatang being his old funny self making everybody laugh all night. The women and the kids gathered around the tables, chatting, bickering and laughing just the same. We took a lot of pictures again... a merry Christmas indeed.
Dec. 25 (Wednesday)
We left early at 8am to go to Novaliches. Knowing that we might have to spend the whole day at my parent's, we decided to visit Papa's mom first. We got there at 9 am, the roads unusually empty for the day. Almost everyone was still asleep, save for Mommy, who was cooking breakfast. A little while later, TJ and Gigi woke up and we were treated to another of TJ's entertainment repertoire. After breakfast (ham, hotdogs, fried chicken... there goes my waistline), we left for my parent's house.
When we arrived, Kuya and his kids, Ate and her family and my mom and dad were there. Then Diko and his family came, and much later, Darlene and her family. Had a lot of fun clowning off with the kids, lovely children's laughter all around the house... I guess that alone is a treat for my mom and dad... having a full house again. Even my grumpy but loving ol' dad was in his best moods, taking part in everything... opening his gift right after receiving it (he would usually postpone this to a more private moment) and posing for a picture with my mom, and then again with the kids. When lunch was served, Papa was sleeping and we knew he was really deep into it through his snore, everybody thought better about waking him up. We had kare-kare, lengua, crispy pata, pata tim and lasagna (a personal request for Anna's birthday). My mom did the sweetest thing... before she laid food on the table, she saved Papa a share of all the dishes so he'd be sure to have a taste of everything when he wakes up.
The best part was the gift-giving. I've been waiting for this moment since we started buying gifts for home 3 weeks ago. It's not that the gifts were spectacular... we were working on a budget after all. I don't know... maybe because this is the first time Papa took part in buying the gifts with me... maybe because we missed doing this the year before... I remember how, when we were still in SG, I would enter the spare room where I put all the gifts, waiting to be packed... I would usually be tired from all the cleaning I was doing, preparing the house for 3 weeks abandonment. Looking at those items, imagining the faces of the recepients, would sooth my aching muscles and help me relax. Now I was seeing it before me... and I was smiling from ear to ear... enjoying the moment.
Then we took pictures... one of each sibling with their particular families. We wanted to take one of the whole clan but my mom didn't like the idea. Apparently, when they did that during my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary, my grandfather died shortly after. I can't particularly remember but I think he died from a beetle-bite... maybe an allergic reaction or something. But you know how elders are... they put one and one together and up comes a conclusion defying all logic. Well, better be safe than sorry. Personally, I would still like to have a lot of these gatherings with the whole family complete... lock, stock and barrel... so I don't mind.
The rest of the afternoon was spent with the women chatting, the men drinking, the kids watching tv and everybody looking out for the youngest memebers of the family, Axl and Lucas. I spent the rest of the afternoon with my head on my mom's lap, her fingers stroking my hair away from my face, my skin remembering her touch. At that moment, I was her baby once again and I didn't have a care in the world. When it became dark, I signaled Papa to get ready to leave. I didn't want Papa to be drinking too much cause he was driving and I was a bit worried cause we didn't leave a light on in the house in Antipolo and Datu was all alone. Besides, I knew my mom was tired and she would only be able to rest once we've left. Gone was the baby... back was the wife and grown-up daughter... taking charge and full of concern for everybody.
It was nice being with everybody again. Tomorrow, Kuya's going back to Nueva Ecija and his kids and mommy would follow the day after. It would be a quiet day for everybody I guess... until New Year's eve... until we get together again. What I'd give to know what everybody was thinking as we drove away... have we cared enough?... will we remember enough? Of course families aren't about one day alone... they're not just about Christmas... but this day of all days, I wonder what each man, woman and child in that house was thinking and feeling. I wish I knew... I wish I knew so I can remember.
Dec. 26 (Thursday)
Today is yet again another celebration... it's Laurence's birthday (Lolet's and Bong's youngest who is now our godchild through the sacrament of Confirmation). I'll be making him kiddie pica-pica of hotdogs, marshmallows and cheese cubes. Tatang came early in the morning to help me make the banana-stalk stand where I'll be sticking the goodies. When we were done, we came up with a 4-tiered thing resembling a submarine. When Tatang left, I went to buy the goodies. I bought 4 bags of bitesize hotdogs, 12 bags of marshmallows, 4 blocks of cheese and a bag of party toothpicks. I also bought jelly pops to stick on the top of the stand. Tatang also brought a bag of quail's eggs which I also stuck on the stand.
I spent a good part of the afternoon doing it. Anna was there to help me of course but as the afternoon got late, I had to call Lolet to send her daughter Ana to help us out. That was good cause she came with her boyfriend, whom we asked to go back to the supermarket twice as we ran out of hotdogs, marshmallows, cheese and toothpicks. Later, Elena and Ting came home. This is timely cause Elena was able to help me out... lettering 'HAPI BDAY LAURENCE' with the goodies, SMS style. When we were done, I put the whole thing on a base I made out of paperplates stapled together, painted to resemble the sea. It weighed a ton and had to take 2 men (Papa and Ana's boyfriend) to bring it over to Lolet's house. It was 5 pm and guests were waiting to be served, to my shame. But the kid was happy and everybody thought the submarine was wonderful and they even took pictures before anybody picked anything out.
Whew! It was quite an effort but worth it I guess. I'm glad Laurence is a boy... if he'd been a girl, Papa might already be dreading what I'd do when her debut comes around.
Dec. 27 (Friday)
I had to go to DOT today to take care of my travel tax. Although I can pay it at the airport before departure, I like paying it at DOT cause it saves a lot of trouble when it's time to leave.
First leg of the trip, Papa and I had to go to Bong's place cause he, Darlene and Lucas were coming along... of course they had to cause they were giving us a ride to DOT. We were planning something of an outing after DOT and knowing that Ate wasn't going to work, I asked her if she and Axl can come as well... as it turns out, even Dennis who was supposed to be out working today decided not to and came along. It was quite a trip going down from Antipolo. We waited for a bus until we got pissed off so we decided to ride the jeep to Crossing. It was hot, it was dusty and it's something I will never do again.
We arrived at Bong's around lunchtime. I was a bit hungry but we decided to wait for Ate so we can all have lunch together. After the meal, we left for DOT. My business there didn't take long and I was back in a jiffy. We proceeded to go to Fort Santiago... my personal request... why I wanted to go there beats me but I did. It was really nice for taking pictures and the kids had a great time running across the gardens... falling down on the grass from time to time, with their moms and dads running after them, the parents squealing as much as the children did. We finished seeing the museums quickly cause we wanted to catch the sunset at Manila Bay.
When we got there, we just had about 10 or 15 minutes of sunset before darkness came. Papa was able to take a lot of nice pictures... The kids were getting tired and cranky, the adults were getting tired and the ol' legs were hurting from all the running around... but we caught some lovely smiles in those pictures. We walked the full length of the Boardwalk... there were a lot of people there... catching the breeze, taking pictures, fishing, eating dirty ice-cream, fishballs, squidballs... families on a picnic... vendors having good business... lovers walking hand in hand, slightly hidden in the darkness of the early evening. I've never been there before... I haven't been in Luneta in a long, long while. But this is really nice and I'm glad we came here.
We had dinner at a restaurant called Harbor View Restaurant. The food was okay but I think a large part of the bill was for the 'ambience'. We had pansit canton, sabaw ng sinigang na bangus, kilawing puso ng saging and for Papa, who was still a bit wary about taking so much seafood, we ordered some meat dish... sizzling bulalo if I'm not mistaken. I guess Darlene got really tired from all the running around cause she really ate a lot... poor girl. I'm glad she enjoyed it though.
To solve the problem of how to bring Papa and myself back to Antipolo, everybody just decided to stay the night. It was fun and I loved being able to chat with my sisters late into the night. We didn't stay up too long... the kids were sleepy and we were really tired. The men drank for a long while though... finishing up at around 4am I think. Papa and I slept in the living room... sharing the bed with Datu... which we would do anytime we felt like it. I stayed up just in case the men needed anything. As they drank, I watched them, marveling at how well they got along. Of course somebody would get pissed off every now and then but do tell me something new.
I watched until I fell asleep... my last thought being... I have a wonderful family and I love them all.
Dec. 28 (Saturday)
It was a full house at the breakfast table... Papa and I, Ate, Dennis and Axl, Bong, Darlene and Lucas, Ting and Elena and Ana... we have a small dining table but we did manage to fit everybody in (Ana wanted to take 2nd table but I wouldn't let her)... even Datu was having his breakfast in the library where he was sadly tied to a drawer knob on account of the babies. After breakfast, everybody prepared to leave, but not before setting a date for another get-together... Jan. 2, a sort of birthday bash for me.
After they left, it was a quiet afternoon for us which Papa spent sleeping. I slept a bit too, so did Anna, and Ting and Elena. Papa and I slept in the living room like we did the night before, with Datu snuggling between us. I woke up after a couple of hours... and it hit me suddenly that New Year's Day is just around the corner... just a week more of this and it's over. It's too soon... it's just too soon... Papa was still asleep, so was Datu... I closed my eyes again, wanting to hold time still. After a while though, everybody was up and about. Succumbing to my defeat, I opened my eyes, gave Datu a playful scuffle, resigning myself to the fact that time moves on.
More later...
Dec. 22 (Sunday)
Tonight was supposed to be Papa's birthday party but when they met up last Thursday, almost everybody who was sure to come weren't available for one reason or another so they moved it up for tomorrow night. I spent the whole day wrapping gifts... can you imagine?... I started at 10 am and finished at 9 in the evening. I enjoyed the bag-making part but wrapping the boxes was a fit. I don't know... just never was into this artsy-craftsy thing... but this isn't saying I didn't do them as nicely as I could though. I know that part of the joy of receiving a gift is getting it nicely wrapped and all. Still, whenever I'd find I hadn't done a gift nicely, Anna would say... 'di bale ate, hindi naman yan ang regalo e'. She had to say it often enough that it's become a joke between us. Elena asked me to teach her how to make the bag and later joined me, even doing more bags than I did.
Kuya Bob (Nancy's brother and Papa's schoolmate at Notre Dame... Nancy is my cousins Al's and Leslie's childhood friend, and Nancy, my cousins and Papa were all neighbors... talk about small world but I've been into this before) called... I think he arrived last night from the US for Pong's (younger brother) wedding. He was supposed to come tonight but learned that it was moved for tomorrow and was calling to verify and to say that if it was happening tomorrow, then he couldn't make it. Too bad cause it's been a while and I wanted to ask him about Nancy. Still, it was fun to note how many people were coming home for the holidays. Maybe if we keep on teasing people about coming home, more and more will do just that.
In the evening, I went to our bibingka stall... it was the last night they were selling bibingka and they had a lot of help this time. Tatang's sister (whom I got to calling Auntie and never really knew her name) and her daughter, Yeye. Tatang's daughter, Josephine, was also there. Again it was a lot of fun, specially because Tatang didn't have to do the cooking and had time to play around and make us laugh. I didn't really get to do much as they were almost done for the night when I joined them... I was just in for the company.
Dec. 23 (Monday)
Needless to say, it was a busy day. It's Papa's birthday party which traditionally has become Notre Dame's annual Christmas Party. Well, not everybody in their batch from Notre Dame came year after year... only their group which through the years has dwindled to just a handful... for the same old reason... some of them have moved out of the country and one, for the past several years, has simply become unavailable (whassup boyet?... whats-a happenin' dude?). Edwin... now this guy... he didn't use to join them when Papa and I first got together... but for the past several years, he's been to most, if not all, get-togethers... birthdays, kids' birthdays, christening... he too is a bag of laughs and really cool... I'll never forget the way he openly craved for the spaghetti, which Darlene cooked late into the evening.
I had a bit of an inspiration this year. Instead of preparing everything myself, I spread the labor around, so to speak. For the lengua, of course I had to ask my mom to do it. For the lumpiang shanghai (a tradition in these gatherings), I asked my mom-in-law. I also asked her to cook her menudo, which is a personal favorite. For dessert, I asked Lolet to make buko-pandan salad. And after finding out that Anna can whip up a pretty good dinuguan, I added that to the menu. For beef, of course it was Papa's pepper steak. That left me with only the pork inihaw to marinade (for succeeding gatherings, there would still be inihaw but I would be replacing the marinade with a basting of Aling Nene's sauce, courtesy of Lolet, just about when it's almost cooked... a further reduction of time and effort... which, in this day and age of globalization, is the name of the game... teehee). The last dish to be served was spaghetti... which Darlene and Anna cooked together. For the first time in years, I was out with the guests and not tied to the kitchen as has always been the case, coming out only after everybody's had their full or when the last guest has eaten.
Late in the afternoon, Darlene and Bong came... and then there was Dennis Dabu, Mon, Edwin and Rey Opena. After a while, Dennis Dalusong came with Mommy, Dante and Janet. And then there was Lolet and her family, Tatang and his family and later in the evening, Lando and his family. There weren't as many people as in the past, which seems to be the way the cookie crumbles through the years, but it's ok. We still had our laughs, the same old stories told again and again over the years, the same gusto in eating the food and gulping the drinks (Papa bought a 2-liter bottle of Fundador which Antonia said, when she saw the pictures, looked like a bottle of cooking oil... hehehe).
Before Dennis Dalusong left, they had their traditional exchange of gifts. Papa got a tool box courtesy of Mon and Mon got a personalized CD collection, I think about 20 CDs or so, collected by Papa through downloads for over a year... that should be about the best gift ever cause they love the same kind of music and much of the songs mean a lot to them and to the rest of the group, for one reason or another. They even talked about passing it around so everybody can have their time with the CDs...:) Then Darlene and I gave out our gifts for the wives, which in their absence, the husbands received. I'll never forget Dennis Dabu's face when he received them... he looked so touched, like we haven't done it before. Oh hell... why is everybody getting so sentimental?... does it have something to do with age?... come one guys, it's rock and roll!
Before everybody has gone, we managed to get some group pictures. Some turned out really funny. Looking at those pictures now, I just wish everybody was there... Egay, Danny, Alvin and Emeng. I wish everybody brought their wives and kids... I just miss the crowd being complete, is all. I miss the outings we had... to the beaches, to Baguio, to Tagaytay, to nearby resthouses... even simple get-togethers without occasions, where we'd spend a Saturday afternoon in somebody's garage, with the men drinking and cooking, and the women eating and chatting. Yeah, sure had it rockin' and rollin'... Damn, I miss those years...
Dec. 24 (Tuesday)
It's Christmas eve tonight... tomorrow, it's Christmas day.
Kuya Bong and family stayed the night and left after breakfast. Oh by the way, I delivered today the 9 kilos of ham that I sold. Earned about 300 bucks from it. It's not much but I started really late selling it. For whatever it's worth, it was fun. Maybe I'll come earlier next year and make a real profit. Mommy sold 70 kilos... imagine that.
I still had a few gifts left to wrap and spent a good part of the morning doing just that. Lolet and her family, and Tatang and his family, all went to visit relatives. Having nobody to chat with, Papa stayed home, painted a bit and slept a lot. Well, he deserves it, poor Papa... he's been working hard the whole year, a lot of sleep should do him good now that he has the time. At 4 pm Papa hitched a ride (he had to get the car at Bong's house in QC so we'll have something to use tomorrow when we go house-hopping for Christmas) with Elena who was going to meet Ting (back from a 2-month training in the US) at the airport.
Early in the evening, the commotion started. Everybody has returned and started preparing for the street party we were having to celebrate the eve. People kept coming and going to borrow, return or ask back cooking utensils that have been going the round of houses... hehehe... this is something really Filipino and I just love it. We cooked spaghetti as our share of the feast, and brought along left-over colas and beer from Papa's party. Lolet made fried dumplings and macaroni salad.
We started the party at 10pm with music loudly playing, 3 tables set on the street fronting Lolet's house and 2 families joining together, with our dog Datu tagging along. Later in the night, we were joined by Arch. Baluyut (whom everybody fondly calls just plain 'Architect') and his wife Rose, who brought some fruits. Still later, we were joined by Dr. Crisostomo (whom everybody fondly calls just plain 'Doc') and his wife, Ate Aster who brought a pineapple upside-down cake (since Dec. 25 is Anna's birthday, somebody thought of bringing out one big candle, probably from the All Saint's Day feast last November, and stuck it on the cake... we sang happy birthday, had Anna blow the candle and cut an 8th of the cake from which we forced her to take a huge bite... it was a riot and a lot of fun... I know it made Anna very happy). We kept calling Tatang and asking him what time he was coming up. We almost gave up on him but he did come, saying he couldn't get away from his cousins.
The party went well into the wee hours of the morning and all the time people were laughing and making small talk. The men gathered around the curb with Tatang being his old funny self making everybody laugh all night. The women and the kids gathered around the tables, chatting, bickering and laughing just the same. We took a lot of pictures again... a merry Christmas indeed.
Dec. 25 (Wednesday)
We left early at 8am to go to Novaliches. Knowing that we might have to spend the whole day at my parent's, we decided to visit Papa's mom first. We got there at 9 am, the roads unusually empty for the day. Almost everyone was still asleep, save for Mommy, who was cooking breakfast. A little while later, TJ and Gigi woke up and we were treated to another of TJ's entertainment repertoire. After breakfast (ham, hotdogs, fried chicken... there goes my waistline), we left for my parent's house.
When we arrived, Kuya and his kids, Ate and her family and my mom and dad were there. Then Diko and his family came, and much later, Darlene and her family. Had a lot of fun clowning off with the kids, lovely children's laughter all around the house... I guess that alone is a treat for my mom and dad... having a full house again. Even my grumpy but loving ol' dad was in his best moods, taking part in everything... opening his gift right after receiving it (he would usually postpone this to a more private moment) and posing for a picture with my mom, and then again with the kids. When lunch was served, Papa was sleeping and we knew he was really deep into it through his snore, everybody thought better about waking him up. We had kare-kare, lengua, crispy pata, pata tim and lasagna (a personal request for Anna's birthday). My mom did the sweetest thing... before she laid food on the table, she saved Papa a share of all the dishes so he'd be sure to have a taste of everything when he wakes up.
The best part was the gift-giving. I've been waiting for this moment since we started buying gifts for home 3 weeks ago. It's not that the gifts were spectacular... we were working on a budget after all. I don't know... maybe because this is the first time Papa took part in buying the gifts with me... maybe because we missed doing this the year before... I remember how, when we were still in SG, I would enter the spare room where I put all the gifts, waiting to be packed... I would usually be tired from all the cleaning I was doing, preparing the house for 3 weeks abandonment. Looking at those items, imagining the faces of the recepients, would sooth my aching muscles and help me relax. Now I was seeing it before me... and I was smiling from ear to ear... enjoying the moment.
Then we took pictures... one of each sibling with their particular families. We wanted to take one of the whole clan but my mom didn't like the idea. Apparently, when they did that during my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary, my grandfather died shortly after. I can't particularly remember but I think he died from a beetle-bite... maybe an allergic reaction or something. But you know how elders are... they put one and one together and up comes a conclusion defying all logic. Well, better be safe than sorry. Personally, I would still like to have a lot of these gatherings with the whole family complete... lock, stock and barrel... so I don't mind.
The rest of the afternoon was spent with the women chatting, the men drinking, the kids watching tv and everybody looking out for the youngest memebers of the family, Axl and Lucas. I spent the rest of the afternoon with my head on my mom's lap, her fingers stroking my hair away from my face, my skin remembering her touch. At that moment, I was her baby once again and I didn't have a care in the world. When it became dark, I signaled Papa to get ready to leave. I didn't want Papa to be drinking too much cause he was driving and I was a bit worried cause we didn't leave a light on in the house in Antipolo and Datu was all alone. Besides, I knew my mom was tired and she would only be able to rest once we've left. Gone was the baby... back was the wife and grown-up daughter... taking charge and full of concern for everybody.
It was nice being with everybody again. Tomorrow, Kuya's going back to Nueva Ecija and his kids and mommy would follow the day after. It would be a quiet day for everybody I guess... until New Year's eve... until we get together again. What I'd give to know what everybody was thinking as we drove away... have we cared enough?... will we remember enough? Of course families aren't about one day alone... they're not just about Christmas... but this day of all days, I wonder what each man, woman and child in that house was thinking and feeling. I wish I knew... I wish I knew so I can remember.
Dec. 26 (Thursday)
Today is yet again another celebration... it's Laurence's birthday (Lolet's and Bong's youngest who is now our godchild through the sacrament of Confirmation). I'll be making him kiddie pica-pica of hotdogs, marshmallows and cheese cubes. Tatang came early in the morning to help me make the banana-stalk stand where I'll be sticking the goodies. When we were done, we came up with a 4-tiered thing resembling a submarine. When Tatang left, I went to buy the goodies. I bought 4 bags of bitesize hotdogs, 12 bags of marshmallows, 4 blocks of cheese and a bag of party toothpicks. I also bought jelly pops to stick on the top of the stand. Tatang also brought a bag of quail's eggs which I also stuck on the stand.
I spent a good part of the afternoon doing it. Anna was there to help me of course but as the afternoon got late, I had to call Lolet to send her daughter Ana to help us out. That was good cause she came with her boyfriend, whom we asked to go back to the supermarket twice as we ran out of hotdogs, marshmallows, cheese and toothpicks. Later, Elena and Ting came home. This is timely cause Elena was able to help me out... lettering 'HAPI BDAY LAURENCE' with the goodies, SMS style. When we were done, I put the whole thing on a base I made out of paperplates stapled together, painted to resemble the sea. It weighed a ton and had to take 2 men (Papa and Ana's boyfriend) to bring it over to Lolet's house. It was 5 pm and guests were waiting to be served, to my shame. But the kid was happy and everybody thought the submarine was wonderful and they even took pictures before anybody picked anything out.
Whew! It was quite an effort but worth it I guess. I'm glad Laurence is a boy... if he'd been a girl, Papa might already be dreading what I'd do when her debut comes around.
Dec. 27 (Friday)
I had to go to DOT today to take care of my travel tax. Although I can pay it at the airport before departure, I like paying it at DOT cause it saves a lot of trouble when it's time to leave.
First leg of the trip, Papa and I had to go to Bong's place cause he, Darlene and Lucas were coming along... of course they had to cause they were giving us a ride to DOT. We were planning something of an outing after DOT and knowing that Ate wasn't going to work, I asked her if she and Axl can come as well... as it turns out, even Dennis who was supposed to be out working today decided not to and came along. It was quite a trip going down from Antipolo. We waited for a bus until we got pissed off so we decided to ride the jeep to Crossing. It was hot, it was dusty and it's something I will never do again.
We arrived at Bong's around lunchtime. I was a bit hungry but we decided to wait for Ate so we can all have lunch together. After the meal, we left for DOT. My business there didn't take long and I was back in a jiffy. We proceeded to go to Fort Santiago... my personal request... why I wanted to go there beats me but I did. It was really nice for taking pictures and the kids had a great time running across the gardens... falling down on the grass from time to time, with their moms and dads running after them, the parents squealing as much as the children did. We finished seeing the museums quickly cause we wanted to catch the sunset at Manila Bay.
When we got there, we just had about 10 or 15 minutes of sunset before darkness came. Papa was able to take a lot of nice pictures... The kids were getting tired and cranky, the adults were getting tired and the ol' legs were hurting from all the running around... but we caught some lovely smiles in those pictures. We walked the full length of the Boardwalk... there were a lot of people there... catching the breeze, taking pictures, fishing, eating dirty ice-cream, fishballs, squidballs... families on a picnic... vendors having good business... lovers walking hand in hand, slightly hidden in the darkness of the early evening. I've never been there before... I haven't been in Luneta in a long, long while. But this is really nice and I'm glad we came here.
We had dinner at a restaurant called Harbor View Restaurant. The food was okay but I think a large part of the bill was for the 'ambience'. We had pansit canton, sabaw ng sinigang na bangus, kilawing puso ng saging and for Papa, who was still a bit wary about taking so much seafood, we ordered some meat dish... sizzling bulalo if I'm not mistaken. I guess Darlene got really tired from all the running around cause she really ate a lot... poor girl. I'm glad she enjoyed it though.
To solve the problem of how to bring Papa and myself back to Antipolo, everybody just decided to stay the night. It was fun and I loved being able to chat with my sisters late into the night. We didn't stay up too long... the kids were sleepy and we were really tired. The men drank for a long while though... finishing up at around 4am I think. Papa and I slept in the living room... sharing the bed with Datu... which we would do anytime we felt like it. I stayed up just in case the men needed anything. As they drank, I watched them, marveling at how well they got along. Of course somebody would get pissed off every now and then but do tell me something new.
I watched until I fell asleep... my last thought being... I have a wonderful family and I love them all.
Dec. 28 (Saturday)
It was a full house at the breakfast table... Papa and I, Ate, Dennis and Axl, Bong, Darlene and Lucas, Ting and Elena and Ana... we have a small dining table but we did manage to fit everybody in (Ana wanted to take 2nd table but I wouldn't let her)... even Datu was having his breakfast in the library where he was sadly tied to a drawer knob on account of the babies. After breakfast, everybody prepared to leave, but not before setting a date for another get-together... Jan. 2, a sort of birthday bash for me.
After they left, it was a quiet afternoon for us which Papa spent sleeping. I slept a bit too, so did Anna, and Ting and Elena. Papa and I slept in the living room like we did the night before, with Datu snuggling between us. I woke up after a couple of hours... and it hit me suddenly that New Year's Day is just around the corner... just a week more of this and it's over. It's too soon... it's just too soon... Papa was still asleep, so was Datu... I closed my eyes again, wanting to hold time still. After a while though, everybody was up and about. Succumbing to my defeat, I opened my eyes, gave Datu a playful scuffle, resigning myself to the fact that time moves on.
More later...
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