We spent New Year’s Eve at a resort in Laguna with Edil’s side of the family. Fortunately, there are no accidents on the road that day despite of the multitude of high risk drivers driving to go to their destinations in time for New Year. It was a great night as my in-laws are home after a year of staying in the US and two of Edil’s siblings who work in Singapore went home to spend the holidays with them.

Looking forward to what 2010 will bring for us!

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It was the first time Edil was not able to join us for Christmas as he had to work (no choice – either the 24th or the 31st, and we knew he wouldn’t miss the 31st celebration in his side of the family for anything. It was the first New Year they will all be together (80%) after five years. His parents are home and two of his brothers from SG came home too). So, I tried to make it fun and happy for the kids. Good thing it really was fun and happy for us as it was our first time to celebrate it differently and with very special people.

Santa came! (Literally. My Dad came in costume and dropped off presents (nope, not in promotional bags)! The house was dim and the kids were in the middle of the room. Martha was telling me Santa gave her a present the whole night and even told Edil when he came home Christmas morning).

I’ve got more writing to do – but that would be left for our albums. Let the pictures speak for itself though

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Believe it or not, I only got ready for Christmas the day before Christmas – that is, I only took the decorations out the day before Christmas (thankfully none of them are dusty that would merit a trip to the steam cleaner). Two reasons: 1) We were so busy and I literally had no maid (I wasnt even able to do the laundry for two weeks – imagine that! And we still had clothes! Hahaha!) and we were out almost everyday and 2) Truthfully, I just wasn’t eager for it when Edil was not home.

On the 23rd, when we got home, Matthew told me, “Mommy paano darating si Santa wala tayong decors?”. It snapped me back to reality – I had to make Christmas happen for my kids. So at 4PM, my house was clean enough for Santa to come (too bad he didn’t leave gifts. I already told Matthew he would go to the houses of victims of Ondoy first . He wanted a guitar and a PSP and Martha wanted a dog!!! Go figure!)

Perhaps if I was just diligent enough, these would have been perfect for our Christmas cards too

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So my first baby is nine. Time flies.

The holidays always never officially starts AFTER Matthew’s birthday. I never wrap presents before his birthday, simply because I want to get excited for his birthday first.

For his birthday, he wanted two things: a trip to Enchanted Kingdom and a PSP. Unfortunately, he didn’t get neither (But he got the PSP as a Christmas gift!) but he was able to get his other wish: PIZZA ALL DAY.

December 20th after my retreat we went to Yellow Cab at 10 in the evening to eat pizza (which we finished – us four, thank you very much. With side dishes!). On his birthday we had Pizza Hut for lunch, and thankfully, he let me buy him chocolate cake so I can take pictures . He also was able to offer his singing voice as part of the choir during Simbang Gabi – perfect thanksgiving!

Some pictures (notice Edil lost weight, as of the moment he is back to gym to make muscle again, this time no bodybuilding supplements!)

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They met Santa Claus in the flesh on the last day of Simbang Gabi. After the mass, there were carols sung and then Santa came! The kids went wild because he had with him tons of boxes like the ones used by long distance movers that had lots of little presents and candies. They even gave away paper money for the youth and young “once”.

My son immediately recognized who it was while as expected, my daughter was scared as hell. It was good that my sisters were already there (they came from Manila to spend Christmas in Amadeo) or else I would not have these pictures:

As you can see, Martha was deathly scared:

But she was able to conquer her fear (aka forced):

And who was Santa?

No less than Lolo! Matthew knew it right away. Martha never had any inclination it was her Lolo. She even talked to him after taking this picture, telling “Santa” she wanted a dog that was “small like this” and color “brown”.

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