Christmas in the Philippines

My parents have been asking to see photos so I will just write briefly about my trip.

Spent a week in Pagbilao/Lucena to see family. I ate way too much as usual, but managed to eat everything I wanted thanks to Tita Menchie. I spent a lot of time with my lola and got her a lot of presents. I think her favorite was the hot water bottle. I'll have to get her different covers for it while I can get them here in Japan. I had my students write her and Tita Menchie Christmas cards and Lola loved them. She read through almost all of them.

Not much else to report really...went to church twice and haven't been to confession in ages so I wasn't allowed to receive communion. I saw my cousin, Marie Chedd and got pictures taken with Tita Chit and Tita Menchie too. We should have gotten bigger sizes since our moms have bad eyes and need something bigger than wallet size to hang on to.

Christmas, we went to my cousin's house and a lot of people came over to eat and sing, etc. It's so weird to see my inaanak (godson), he is so big now! I hung out with the little kids as usual, I find I get along with them better than the adults, there's less drama.

I'm back in Japan now with another week before I have to go back into work. New Years will be spent in Shimane with my friends Karen and Yuko. Pretty low key, but I'm planning on cooking pancit lucban just to have that Filipino touch to the celebration.

Hope everyone is having a lovely holiday with family and friends!! Happy New Year to everyone!!

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