Last month, I noticed there was a trend of animal caps that were perfect for the cold weather. Edil wanted to buy for all of us but we had trouble looking for the exact white one my sister had. We took pictures with it instead. It is as hard to look for as the vacant home insurance I have been looking for forever.

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My siblings and I had a photo shoot during Christmas Eve and my youngest sister turned them into an amazing story board. I want to do something with this I just don’t know what specifically. I was thinking I can print these and have them framed so I can give it to my parents. This would look good on top of the shelf which has all kinds of books from fiction, dog training books, biographies and photo books.

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I was planning to give Matthew a guitar and some more books (he is collecting the Classic Starts series) but the husband insisted we buy him skateboard. Since he needed someone to teach him, he bought two – a longboard and a skateboard, for the two of them. I wasn’t happy about it, but what can I do? It’s his gift. If I had my way, I would have given him a cheap digital camera or even an iTouch (complete with Iphone 4 wood cases) – but that would be too much. Heehee.

By some twist of fate, Edil met an accident a day after Christmas, using the longboard. He fractured his clavicle and is required to wear a brace for a month then not use it too much for 6 months. It is a great inconvenience for us but I am thankful it was only a fracture, it could have been something worse.

The skateboard is now officially used as display from now on.

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It’s a good thing our unreliable CISS printer got replaced by the in-store inkjet printers of the store we had it done with or else I would be spending a lot on printing. Here are some more highlights of our holiday season.

1. Matthew buying us gifts from his own money (me, his Dad and even Marts) and he bought gifts for his grandparents too. Such a sweet kid.

Martha of course, didn’t want to get left behind so she had gifts as well. She picked some crazy hilarious presents!

2. It was a plaid Christmas for us:

3. We gave the kids two presents – one from each of us, and then on gift from Santa. Edil’s gift deserves a whole new post! Here are some of our pictures during the gift-giving:

Matthew with his gifts for us:

Edil’s gift for me:

4. Christmas Day was spent visiting grandparents in Manila – read: TOO.MUCH.FOOD!

5. Reunion with Edil’s side of the family in Tagaytay where Edil met an accident:

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Matthew turned ten last December. How time flies – he is now a decade old! The first ten years of the 20th century for me can be summed up in one person – my son! He truly is a symbol of how my life has changed since the turn of the new millenium. And while he now wants to be a journalist instead of an Offshore Injury lawyer, cartoonist, priest and DVD-maker, it hasn’t stopped me from giving him a great birthday. He really hasn’t had a proper birthday celebration all his life, because his birthday is a few days before Christmas and holding a party isnt really practical. Besides, back then, we barely can make ends meet. Now that we can give him a party, he is too old for it and finds it baduy already. He would rather go to parties but not be the celebrant.

So we got to thinking we can give him an asalto on the eve of his birthday! It was perfect because he was staying at his Lolo and Lola and he thought we would just meet on the day of his birthday for lunch. Of course, Marts had to almost screw it up because she was so excited she had to come in before we even had time to light the cake and arrange the presents.

*Crossposted from Flickr:

Thanks to Martha super hyper koooolllllllet, muntik na mapurnada ang surprise.

We went there 11.30. Martha was literally so excited. So we told her to keep quiet, we were arranging all the gifts + lighting the cake outside when she barges in my dad’s place and tells my parents who were guarding the door so that Mato wont discover our surprise, “Lolaaaa birthday nI Tuya ko eh! Birthday nya, sing kami ng Happy Birthday.” So Mato goes out —- and we hear Marts say, “Tuya, tignan mo…” so we run around the building and lock ourselves (Me and Edil) in the common bathroom! Graaaabe!

Marts was literally walking around the building with the guard (we were hearing her) – saying, :Birthday ng Tuya ko eh, bakit nawala Mommy ko? Nakita mo ba Mommy ko? Wala??? BIRTHDAY NGA NG TUYA KO EH!”

10 minutes after we go out, Marts was there and OMG she was soooo loud. Hahaha. Buti na lang Agnes was there helping mato get distracted with watching Underworld.

See, talagang nakapangnighties na si Tuya. That’s my Dad’s shirt, LOL.

But it was worth it! We had 10 presents to give, for his 10 years. I gave the presents from his Ninangs (my college friends) on his birthday instead of Christmas (it was money), my parents gave him presents, my friends gave him shirts, and we gave little things – a Monopoly board game, some shirts (he needs new clothes), hats, a bag. Two big presents were:

A compilation of his most memorable Quotable Quotes in a book called Matthewisms (two volumes). I compiled it last October and it took me two weeks to make. I am just glad I have been blogging since 2003! It has become like a book of Erap Jokes in our family and Mato is proud to let anybody willing to read it, read it! Too bad my serious book, entitled Message to My Boy (10 life lessons I want him to remember as early as now), didn’t get delivered on time (It is still not here). I finished it first week of December and it was highly emotional for me to do. I hope it gets here on time for Valentine’s Day! Hahaha.

And we are going to Disneyland HK!
I bought a card that said “I think you’re pretty much guaranteed a good Christmas…because I told Santa how special you are.”
And then it read:
“Inside your passport is your gift, get ready because you will see the Land of Mouse, Disneyland!”

His reaction was lukewarm (I am thinking he knew it all along), or it didnt help that my Mom made him read aloud the card (no time to emote). But he is excited and happy! His first airplane ride and out of the country trip!

We leave in a week and I haven’t even started making a checklist on what we need to pack and prepare for!

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