I woke up tired on the 24th because of the travel from Makati to Bulacan to Bataan the day before. I do not regret going to my cousin’s wedding and my niece’s dedication in Malolos though! I loved that the event was elegant yet casual. Ang sarap makakita ng couple na alam kong nagmamahalan talaga. Ang sarap rin ng may bagong inaanak lalo na kasing cute ng inaanak ko. At shempre pa, ang sarap ng pagkain sa Kulinarya Tisa, win ang pastel de lengua! Congrats and best wishes, Kuya Edmund and Herchell! Be dedicated to Jesus forever, Baby Alfa!

{with Lola na super bata with her jetblack hair / with one of my favorite couples / yiheee kissy!!! / with Alfa cutie patootie}

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I got my heart trampled on a couple of hours before the Christmas Eve Mass. God sent encouragement through an unexpected person. :p Sorry God for the brief moment of letting my heartache snatch the attention that’s supposed to be for Jesus’ very special day, and thank You for using my bestfriend as an instrument of Your unfailing love for me. 🙂

The message was this:

“Your most profound and intimate experiences of worship will likely be in your darkest days- when your heart is broken, when you feel abandoned, when you’re out of options, when the pain is great- and you turn to God alone.” – Rick Warren

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We didn’t have Noche Buena in Lola’s house because the family gathering was moved to Christmas afternoon. We found out the itself so we only had a short time to prepare. We had only 4 kinds of food but it was just right for us… hello, tatlong piraso lang kami sa pamilya! We had ham with honey glaze, Pinoy spaghetti (with lots of hotdogs and mushrooms), ice cream (Coffee Crumble and Cookies & Cream), and butterscotch! Saraaap! Ang lakas nga maka-children’s birthday party ng handa namin, ‘no? But sabi nga ni daddy, fitting naman daw kasi birth daw ni Baby Jesus. Oo nga naman!

{Merry Christmas from our family to yours… Malayo man kayo, malayo rin kami! Hehehe!}

Pero sa totoo lang, mas bet ko ‘yung food namin ng Christmas lunch… ‘yung nirequest ko na bulanglang (bunga ng malunggay + kamote + fish + bagoong), rigadillo, lechon paksiw, minatamis na saging… kaya naman ako nasasabihan ng mga kamag-anak ko na MALUSOG. :p Thank you Lord for the bountiful blessings! 😀

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Spent Christmas day waiting for my godchildren, nephews and nieces to visit me at home. The first kids that visited me were- my nieces Michaella and Madison. The little girls were accompanied by their parents Ate Ching and Kuya Shawn. They are very lucky to have such adorable daughters! I’m kinda bummed that I won’t be able to see them again before they go back to Greece end of this month. 😦

My other cute pamangkins Reese, Sean, Verene and Seth also came to visit. We saw the rest of the kids in the afternoon when we went to the beach for our clan’s get together.

{kengkoyan time with Ate Ching, Mica and Madie}

There were lots of food in the get together. Our contribution was my Mama’s specialty suman sa lihiya (that she made with the help of Tita Nida, and si Daddy ang pinagsungkit niya ng niyog at pinakuha ng dahon ng saging na pambalot, hahaha). There’s also puto with anise, cuchinta, lechon, chopseuy, menudo, dinuguan (my favorite), pansit malabon, fruit salad and lots of buco.

There were a lot of kids that attended the party becauseof the games. The event was spearheaded by my cousin Mafi and her hubby Jeric. Ako ang official photographer na taga-upload agad ng pics sa Facebook for the benefit of our relatives abroad that we miss so much  and sana makasama namin next Christmas!!! The games for the kiddies were basagang palayok, facedive sa flour, sack race, ang walang kamatayang Bring Me, and patagalan ng Merry Christmaaaaaaasssssss. There was also videoke for the kids at heart. :p

{with my nephew Rion / pabitin aka the hang-game nyahahaha / with my pudrakels, mudrakels, and grannygoose / cutie maddie!!!}

So obviously (and thankfully), YES is the answer if you ask me if I had a merry Christmas. I hope yours was merry, too. 🙂

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listening to: Wham! – Last Christmas