It’s been almost 2 weeks since my last blog post. Sorry mga bakla, everything in my life got hectic in the last two weeks. Nagyear-end sa work. As committed to our clients, we RFO’ed (ginawa ko talagang verb yung Ready For Occupancy, lelz), all the buildings that we said will be ready for occupancy this year. Super busy. At home naman, limpak limpak ang PETA ni Anika so I helped her. Hindi kasi madadali eh. There are videos to shoot and projects to do. The konting free time I had was spent resting. Hindi ko nga matapos tapos yung Start Up na kdrama eh. Huling huli na ako hahahaha!
Plus the fact that Christmas season depresses the hell out of me and I had to hide it for Anika’s sake. Nakakapagod kaya maghype up ng holidays pag The Grinch ka naman talaga.
Anyway, as a tradition, we spent Christmas Eve with my family. Absent nga lang si Lolo Papa, Noel and Russ. Lolo Papa’s back in Amsterdam already and they’re in lockdown. My brother, Noel, is in Australia. Russ had work. Kainis ang Covid talaga. Nevertheless, I am still very grateful that everyone in my family is healthy and we were able to celebrate together kahit papaano.
Our Noche Buena theme was Best of the Best. Sabi namin ni Faye, we didn’t want to have so much food during Noche Buena kasi we didn’t want food to be wasted. Kaya best of the best na lang. Later I’ll show you our food.
Wowa made a grazing table. She forgot the cold cuts, pretzels and nuts at her condo kaya naging fruits and cheese board na lang. All the cheeses here are from California Milk Cheese. Super sarap their different kinds of cheeses, mga bakla. My favorite combination is crackers, Bleu Cheese, green olives and then grapes. Sarap men. Wowa bought a grazing thingy-majiggers online and it was perfect.
By the way, this is what I wore for Christmas Eve.
That kimono dress has been with me even before Alvin and I got married. It’s one of my favorites kaya hindi ko matapon tapon. It actually doesn’t have a brand. I bought that from a bazaar lang. So weird ano? I bought so many clothes before Christmas and yet, I’m wearing a super old one. Hahaha!
Around 10:30pm, Isabel got fussy because she wasn’t able to nap the night before and medyo late na din. So we let her open some of her gifts. Nakakatuwa kasi smile siya agad. Cute na cute talaga kami kay Isabel! She even changed into this cute onesies and LT made a skirt for her para Queen Elsa ang peg niya with gloves!
We didn’t wait anymore for the clock to strike 12am. Nag-exchange gifts na kaming lahat.
Nice yung gifts ni Wowa kay Isabel. I’ll blog about it in a different post. Natuwa ako dun sa mga educational toys that Wowa found so I’ll show them to you too.
Isabel mostly got toys and Barbie doll accessories. She loves playing with her dolls . She plays as if never siya naglearn mag-gadgets and mag-TV. Mahilig siya magimaginative play mag isa. Pinagsasalita niya yung mga dolls niya and gumagawa talaga siya ng mga different scenarios. I wish kids play like that more kaysa nakatutok sa gadgets all the time.
Anika got mostly Harry Potter things. Toots gifted her with 4 wands. Wowa got her a Malfoy shirt, a Slytherin notebook and HP stickers. Wowa has a pa rhinestones crafty eklaver na Harry Potter that she had framed for Anika’s room. Nakalimutan lang din niya. I told her to give it na lang to Anika sa New Year’s Eve. Faye gifted her naman with lots of HP merch. LT gave her a HP sling bag. I gifted Anika with Funk-O Pops na Harry Potter characters and a Pandora HP bracelet. Best of the best gift na naman came from Alvin. After months of asking him for a skateboard, finally he relented and bought Anika one. Anika wanted a penny board lang sana pero Alvin got her a DC hardcore one. Pang professional hahaha! Siyempre complete with safety accessories dapat.
I was actually surprised pumayag si Alvin to buy her one. Ayaw na ayaw niya to give Anika a skateboard because he’s scared that she will hurt herself. I told him to teach Anika para matuto. Ayaw pa din. Kaya gulat na gulat talaga ako. But Alvin has one rule. Anika cannot use the skateboard without him. Fair enough. The next day, Alvin taught her how to use a skateboard. It was so nice because natuto si Anika agad! The videos are in my Instagram stories.
Wowa and I got Faye a vacuum cleaner like mine. I gave LT a Uniqlo jacket that she can use pagnagwa-walking siya. I gave Toots a pair of shorts from Uniqlo. Alvin got that from Faye also. I gave Russ a box of coffee packs from bittersweet_by_d. Ang hilig kasi nun sa kape.
I got underwear from Wowa. She asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I couldn’t think of anything talaga. Sabi ko bra at panty na lang haha! Ayun she bought a lot. Pag si Wowa kasi ang bumibili ng underwear soshal eh. I got nice Terranova pantulog na shorts from LT. Faye gave me make up from Benefit. Nagalit siya why I bought a Renegade Folk sandals the other day. Dapat daw pala yun na lang ginift niya sa akin hehe. I got Alvin a TW Steel watch. Pangarap daw niya kasi yun.
More on the kids lang talaga ang limpak limpak na gifts this year. I loved seeing Anika and Isabel’s smiles when they open the gifts. Level up na talaga ang pasko for me, Toots and Faye. Hindi na para sa amin, para sa kids na lang.
ME (to Toots): Ang tagal mo naman kasi magka-anak eh. Bilis bilisan mo kasi napapanis na tong si Anika and Isabel. Lumalaki na. Kailangan na ng new baby in the family!
TOOTS: Teka ka lang noh! Eto na nga magpapakasal na. Kaka-engage ko pa lang, anak na agad?!
Ambagal eh! Excited na ako hahahaha!
And here’s our Best of the Best Noche Buena.
Oriental Salad from Nono’s Restaurant
Sisig from Manam
LT’s baked lasagna that we have been having for Noche Buena since we were kids.
Christmas ham from Virgina
Baked Miso Salmon from Nono’s
Strawberry cake from Baby Yulo. Sobrang sarap grabe. Pero dapat kept frozen siya. Dumaan pa kami ni Faye sa Rockwell saglit when we got this from North Forbes. Ayan, nagkaganyan tuloy.
Wowa and Toots left a little after midnight. Maaga kami natapos this year. Last year kasi umabot kami ng 3am because we played games pa with Noel. After Wowa and Toots left, Alvin, Anika and I had our annual Christmas photos taken. After nun, nagpictorial na din yung iba =)
Christmas this year sure was different from the rest. Medyo low key siya compared to the past years. It’s okay. Ang important is we were able to celebrate Jesus’ birthday.
Merry Christmas guys!
I shall go watch Start Up na.. Mwah!