Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas! I intended to do a Christmas post much earlier today but I was running around with some of the cousins who dropped by our house. So, how did you spend Christmas eve and Christmas day? Here are some photos of what me and my family did.

Cooked a simple Noche Buena spread.

Molo Soup was definitely the star of the table last night.

No Noche Buena's ever complete with Queso de Bola, Chicken and Potato Salad.

Colors of the season.

We spent a good hour during Noche Buena then headed upstairs to have tea and exchange stories; a first for our family. Ha ha! Went to bed right after because we had to wake up to hear the 9:00AM Eucharistic Celebration in St. Therese of the Child Jesus Parish in UPLB.

Christmas morning. With some of our relatives from Talim Island, Binangonan, Rizal.

Before heading out to hear Mass.

Change position daw. Ha ha.

I guess one of the best things about Christmas is that I get to hear Mass with my family. See, my mum and aunts don't really attend Mass every Sunday and RJ goes to Mass with his girlfriend so I usually hear Mass with friends from the BLD Youth Ministry. The Christmas Family Mass is actually one of the things that I always look forward to whenever Christmas season comes.

Went home right after the Mass and spent time just chillin' and waiting for relatives to drop by. Mum and Mama thought of this neat idea of giving out "Papasko" to some of our younger relatives. They clipped on different denominations in a rack and each person gets to pick out a piece of paper with a number on it from a fish bowl. The number on the paper corresponds to the piece of plastic which contains PhP 40.00 - PhP 1,000.00! Ang saya lang kasi thrilling and excited kaming lahat. Ha ha! 

The Money Rack. LOL

Yes, I did join and I got PhP 50.00! Ha ha! Mum imposed this isang bunot kada tao lang so ayun. Ha ha! My ten year old cousin Buchoi got the PhP 1,000.00! Swerte! The rest of the day was spent running around with hyper active kids and some videoke. Definitely a tiring but fun day!

Kayo? Kamusta ang Pasko niyo? :)



Again, Merry Christmas and may the love, joy and peace of the Lord fill your hearts!




P.S: Don't forget to join my first ever blog give-away! I'm giving out one Moonleaf Tea Shop 2012 Planner! Click here to know more on how you can score this one! :)

Pinagpala.

Some people, myself included, want a ton of material things whenever Christmas season comes. These kids? Sure, they want toys and new clothes and new books. But one thing I know they'd really want is to spend Christmas whilst being with family. And I'm pretty sure God arranged all of this because we became their family, even just for a day :)

I'm smiling from ear to ear and fighting back tears while typing this entry. The Bukas-Loob sa Diyos Youth Ministry San Pablo South District spent the whole afternoon with the kids from Pinagpala Children's Home. Pinagpala, as it is often called, was originally situated in Pila, Laguna but was recently moved to Calauan, Laguna. It houses broken families, unwed mothers and orphans and has been home for quite a few kids since it opened.

There were around 30 kids who attended which was actually a very good number since there were also around 30 members of the Youth Ministry who came. Instant Kuyas and Ates for the kids! :)

While waiting for the program to start :)

We prepared a simple program with a little bit of dancing and singing plus a ton of games which all of us enjoyed! We were in awe of the amount of prizes and loot bags that we were given and we're all just grateful to each and every individual and family that provided these gifts for the children! More photos from the party up ahead! 

Thursday.

The UP AgriBusiness Society (BISOK) celebrated their 39th year and we got invited to their grand open-tam which was held last night. For those who don't know, an open-tam (open tambayan) is an event wherein an organization opens their tambayan and serves food and what-nots to guests. BISOK's open-tam was very different from all the others that I've been through because they had a program to keep the guests entertained! Twas great to see the girls from UPLB Street Jazz Dance Co. rock the event! I only have one photo from the open-tam but I'm sure BISOK will be uploading photos any time soon.

Click read more to view more photos from last night's happenings!

Coca-Cola Induced Tears.

Imagine Christmas without Coca-Cola. Doesn't seem right, right? That's virtually impossible, especially for my family. Now, imagine spending Christmas without your family. Doesn't seem okay, too, right? But  this happens.

This new video from Coca-Cola's YouTube channel sure pulled some heart strings of quite a number of people. Check it.

This has got to be the best Coca-Cola commercial/video I've seen. This made me realize how lucky I am for I get to spend most of the time, especially the holiday season, with my family. After seeing this video, I couldn't care less if I get many gifts this year. I just want to spend Christmas day with the people I love. That being said, I believe me and the cousins have a Christmas party to organize. Let's do this!

eLBi Christmas 2011

UPLB's Christmas Tree (plus the Belen and Santa Clause and friends his deers) was lit for the first time last night. I did miss the lighting ceremony and the program because I really wasn't planning on going out last night but a couple of Facebook messages and Tweets from my cousins made me get up and visit the park to take photos. Read more to view more photos from last night!

Christmas 2011 Wish List

Since Christmas is just around the corner, here's my Christmas 2011 wish list!

The ideal Christmas wish list, I dare say. Ha ha. Of course, there's no way on Earth I'll be getting those for Christmas, unless my mum and mama Santa suddenly decides that I'd get these since I've been a very good boy this year. So, anyway, here's my real Christmas wish list for this year.

1. Bicycle Black Deck of Cards for dull times only Pusoy Dos can save. Don't worry, no money's involved. No money to begin with! Ha ha!

2. Diary Of A Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (Book Set) just because I enjoyed the first two books and I haven't read the third and fourth yet. Oh, and I borrowed the first two so I don't really have a copy of them.

3. Paulo Coelho (Book Set) because he's definitely one of my favorite authors. I've been reading Coelho since 2005 and I like the fact that his works never get old, for me, at least. I know I've bought six of the books in the collection but I somehow cannot find them, so that's just a really good excuse reason to get the entire collection.

4. Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan (Book Set) since I got hooked with the first book and I think this set will be perfect for long boring days when all I'd ever want to do is grab something that's not too light to read. Ha ha.

Yes, I made sure that the items on my real and easily-achievable Christmas wish list are locally available! Ha ha! I found all of them in several branches of Power Books and National Bookstore! Ha ha!

How about you, guys? What's in your list this year?

P.S: I'm still praying for the items on the first photo, though! Ha ha!