Christmas season

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Good morning to you all!

Wow what a week has been…so much cooking, eating, late nights, eating, excitement, eating, addictive card games, eating….and did I mention EATING?!? Hehehe As you know, this is my first Christmas back here in the Philippines since we left for Australia in August 1993 - over 13 years ago!!! And let me tell you, this is absolutely THE place to be for the Christmas season. Filipinos really know how to celebrate, and I am so glad to be able to experience it all again this year. It's quite tempting to return for next year, hehehe but I think I will be broke, so perhaps we can aim for 2008 J

Since I had finished with all my Christmas shopping, I was able to concentrate on what I was planning to cook for the parties. I started baking on the 23rd; and this was for noche Buena on the 24th. I made blueberry quick bread, as well as dark chocolate brownies with marshmallows.

First thing the next day, I went with uncle Matt to SM Sucat to buy other grocery items. I helped him throughout the day making the meals. We prepared this chicken dish which has ham and cheese stuffing and crumbed - to be pan-fried. There was also java rice (bacon bits, garlic, onion, tomato sauce, and peas), mashed potatoes (I set a small amount for myself and added garlic and Spanish paprika), plus fried chicken. For dessert we made banana crepes, strawberry Jell-O, and fruit salad.

Tita Packay had a flight to Los Angeles, and left yesterday. This evening, tita Rose, tito Vito and Christa came over, and shortly afterwards Dharic and Anna arrived. Then tita Rose, tito Vito with Christa left for mass. Now, I'm used to opening presents at midnight, and then on Christmas morning. But Sab and Audrey have no patience at all! We ended up opening everything around 9:30pm! I slept siesta today just so I could stay up until the early morning. Around 2am, Christa got dropped off here, and by this time I just had to go to sleep - sad isn't it? Hehehe…

Christmas day!!! Yeay J I woke up early, along with Anna, since she slept earlier than me. When I woke-up I was surprised to find everyone sleeping in the room with me, I didn't even hear them come in. Grandma rang early, and so I had to wake them up - I found out that they had just gone to bed! After the call, they went back to sleep, while Anna and I went outside and played with the hula hoop and skipping rope. It was such a nice and sunny day! We looked up the street and noticed that the other kids were playing with their new toys like remote control cars, while we were playing with "old-style" toys! Around 10am, Anna and I decided to wake everyone and just talk and talk in the room until they were picked-up by Christa's sister. Lunch was left-over dinner food, and afterwards I got to talk to my mum, dad, and sisters back in Australia J

In the afternoon, it became a baking marathon for me. I was now making for the Christmas party in Tagaytay, also a reunion for tita Packay and her friends. For that I was making - coffee brownies, marshmallow brownies for dessert; fruit-filled (strawberry jam) cookies, and chocolate chip cookies for gifts; then also chocolate brownies with walnut and marshmallows for Dayday to bring to her nieces and nephews in Laguna.

On the 26th while I was having breakfast, tita Packay arrived. Within 2 hours we were out and on the way to Tagaytay! We stayed in "log-style" cabins in Woodsborough. Our cabin was across from tita Bay's and a street away from tita Candy's. The cabins were all 2 stories, 3 bedrooms each with its own bathrooms, another toilet downstairs, there's a kitchen, dinning room, living room, fire place (yes, it was actually freezing and windy at night and early morning), and half of the house had a porch around it. The yard was nice and big, you could see pineapple, banana, and coconut plantations just over the wall.

The Ledesma family - tita Bay, tito Dodge, Lora, Bianca, Sophia, and Zach have been here since the 23rd, and the Pastors own the cabin they're staying in there. After lunch the Ledesma family returned with Miki and Francis, and tita Candy, tito Noel and Carlos followed. Us young ones (yes that STILL includes me), went for a walk around this little village, with Audrey, Bianca, Bea, and Denise on tow. Back at the cabin we played some card games and slowly other families started arriving in time for dinner.

Dinner was pretty much more of dessert than the main meal! There were 3 tupper wares of Jollibee spaghetti (which I was sooooo happy about), paella, BBQ, soup. We young ones, moved to the other cabin to play card games, Taboo, and charades. We were called back to the other cabin for the gift giving. This itself was a crazy affair, and a good thing it was all captured on DVD! My stomach was so sore with laughter, all the titas were so loud, so much comedy!

Afterwards it was back to the other cabin where we literally played cards until 6AM! No joke, it was none stop, and the game was so addictive. We even had consequences for the losers. First was Sab who had to wrap the smelly table cloth around her and wear it for a long time; then Lora had to smear chocolate mousse on her lips and give tita Agnes and kiss; then it was my turn with Miki, and Francis - we had to dance and sing "You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out…" on the stairs. Tita Bay started throwing wrapping paper at us - were we really that bad?!? Hehehe Then Francis lost again with Celine, we piled baby powder on their faces and they had to wait outside by the window to scare someone - the lucky victim? Well who else but tita Bay! She looked through the curtains and was startled with the white faces staring at her!

Around 4:30am, some people were starting to get hungry, and wanted to have McDonald's delivery - only problem was that we didn't have an address to have the food delivered! So we just raided the other cabin for food, and brought it back with us. Next thing we knew the sun was starting to rise, and everyone else were so shocked to find us still playing! When we finally stopped, we had to get ready and have everything packed away since we had to be out by 12noon.

At first we all went to tita Candy's cabin, chit-chat for awhile, and we started playing cards again hehehe. Saying goodbyes in the Philippines, as some of you would know takes quite awhile…part of it is because you remember something you were supposed to say before, and this starts another conversation which could take another hour, and then there's the picture taking with everyone's cameras! Then you say goodbye to each and everyone, getting numbers, emails, and planning the next time you'll catch up. Even when we were in the car slowly driving away, we would yell out the window, and wave crazily until you just don't see them anymore.

On the way back home it was a convoy of 4 cars, we stopped over McDonald's for lunch. Then we get a text from Carlos to say that THEY were also on their way! All the goodbyes I guess were just a practice, because when we separated, it took awhile again hehehe. On the way home, I still couldn't sleep. When we finally got home, I decided not to sleep anymore because I might not be able to sleep at night. It was over 38 hours before I finally got to sleep. And when I did, it was a very good sleep. I went to bed 7:30pm, and when I woke up exactly at 5am in the same position as I fell asleep. Apparently the dogs were very noisy outside, and when tita Packay and her friends arrived they were also quite noisy - but I did not hear a thing…

Now I'm just taking it easy, resting, and preparing myself for the next big thing - NEW YEAR!!!

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