A Meaningful Christmas - 2012 (Part 1)

DAY 1

                Hmmmn… What can I say about my Christmas this year? Well, I only have one word for it: EXTRAORDINARY! For two consecutive days, I was able to celebrate Christmas not just once but THRICE with five different groups of people. I know right, I got a lot of energy. Hehe…

                Last year, I got invited by a friend to join her family for an outreach program. We fed the Badjaos of Pioneer Ave. and honestly, that was an experience that I want to do and happen over and over again. I’d wanted to share things with those who need it. I even planned to organize a charity group two years ago, but my poor schedule didn’t allow me to. So now you know what happened to that plan.

                December 21, 2012 – I woke up feeling confuse of how can I manage my time knowing that I have to attend three parties on the same day. I was also in dilemma about which should I do first. They said that it’s the day that the world ends, so I thought of managing my time effectively. At 11:00 am, I have to be at St. Vincent Strambi – GenSan’s Home for the Aged – because I volunteered to help in Ann Santos’s charity work in celebration of her birthday. I was invited by Ate Sheryl a.k.a. Ate Birdie to give a hand. I knew that I have to do a lot of stuffs for that day but I didn’t mind them. I’d been to St. Vincent Strambi twice and I’d been longing for my come back. I wanted to see the oldies again. (Just so you know, I have the greatest sympathy for grannies than anyone else).

Ate Birdie interviewing Lolo Opao

 So at 11:30am, I arrived in the place. I saw familiar faces… Faces that I have already seen from my last visit. However, I got sad realizing that the Lola who used to lead the group whenever visitors come in, the one on a wheel chair, the English speaker, who used to wear her headband, was not in sight. She used to lead the “Tanging Yaman” song. I assume she already passed away. L

Aside from the familiar faces, I also noticed the new ones. Some still have that energy to dance and sing, while some stayed on the couch and watched the entertainers. It was nice talking to them. Even though I can barely understand what others were saying, I was happy to listen to their experiences. They’re very game to answer our questions. I despise their children for abandoning them! Thanks to volunteers who have a heart for the old ones. At least the grannies would not feel so alone. How I wish I can return to that place again and share my blessings with them when I can.

At 6:00pm, of the same day, I attended the FOCUS Group’s Christmas Party at Asian Tongue. We chose the venue because of the Eat-All-You-Can treat that’s available. Let me tell you about the FOCUS Group. Well, it’s composed of Febie, Chelsea, Jennah, Ate Liezl, Charmie, Princes, Vincent, Merajoy, Edward, Charmaine, Jaswill, Jane, Gladys, Gayle and I. Why it was named FOCUS is still not so clear to me. We’ve been classmates for four years, but believe it or not, we only got a tighter relationship last semester. As funny as it sounds, if conflicts didn’t happen last semester, FOCUS won’t be born. We shared almost the same views. We’re different from each other but we complement. For the short time that I spent with them, I felt their warm offer of friendship and love. They’d been good to me. I know I don’t spend ample of time with them since the semester started, but I know they understand. That’s why I love this group. You don’t need to stick all your vacant time with them, what’s important is that they know that you’ll just be around. I hope that the friendship that we have will last longer. I know.

At 8:00pm, I, Gladys and Jane, excused ourselves out from the Asian Tongue to proceed to the MEOWRKS Christmas Party at Jane’s new and beautiful home. Dana, Vergie and Kaye have been waiting there for two hours. It’s an awaited party for me. You have no idea how much effort I did to convince my parents to let me spend the whole night at Jane’s. haha! I texted Daddy but he turned me over to Mommy. I addressed my concern to Mommy, but she returned me over to Daddy. And after all the negotiations and pleadings that I made, they eventually turned me to Papa. They told me that if Papa would allow me, then, they’ll do the same. So, I immediately texted Papa. I told him why I have to be in Jane’s. Thanks to his P3 load balance! He immediately agreed to my plea. I jumped from the moment I read his “OO na, ang kulit mo” reply! I felt like I won a million peso! I went out of my room with a grin. my little brother even asked me what happened to me. Maybe if I measured the width of my smile that moment, one ruler wouldn’t be enough to describe how wide of a glee I felt. It was my first time to be allowed to sleepover someone’s house!

When we arrived at Jane’s home, I was surprised seeing Dana cooking. She boasted her self-cooked friend chicken! Good for her, she enjoyed the task assigned to her. We started the night with laughter and songs. I brought my guitar. I and Vergie even had composed our friendship song. So watch out for it! While waiting for Jane, we continued playing the guitar. Gladys didn’t feel well at the first few minutes but after Kaye’s effective massage, she went back to her usual crazy actions. She didn’t mind us calling her ABNORMAL because she’s guilty about it. *bleh!

When Jane got back, we started munching the foods that I, Kaye, Vergie and Dana prepared. Vergie prepared the Spaghetti. It was one of the delicious pastas I had ever tasted! Dana prepared the fried chicken. All I can say is, she’s good even if she’s a first timer. Then I prepared the Mango Float. I am happy to know that they like it. They said it tasted like Ice Cream. Is that a sign that I should start my cooking career and our catering services? haha

After dinner, we head on to our most-awaited part of the party… EXCHANGING GIFTS! But hey, we definitely put some twist to it. The twist is: EACH OF US SHOULD PICK THE GIFT IN WHICH SHE THINKS IS FOR HER. We agreed to only write the giver’s name at the top of our respective gift. It was exciting because weeks ago, we’ve been giving petty gifts to our secret Monitas. So it was a puzzle to each of us on who have picked our name. To make the guessing fair, we drew lots to identify the first one to choose. Another twist on that part is that, if you happen to be correct on your guess, you’ll be rewarded by the person you picked. Unfortunately, I picked number 5. It should have been Gladys’s gift that I would pick, but I was only torn between mine and Kaye’s gift. Even if it’s erroneous that I shouldn’t be picking Kaye’s because I was her Monita last year, I didn’t have a choice. I was a hundred losser on that matter. Poor me.

I also had a deal with Kaye that if I was Gladys’s Monita, I would be buying Cadbury, but if not, she will treat me to Starbucks. And through all my innocence, when we opened the gifts, I found out that Gladys’s gift was for me! Pft! Could you imagine that? The pot of gold was almost on my palms but it slipped away. Huhu! I was so degraded. Haha!

We continued the party with a bottle of drink. Only four of us survived until the last drop. Vergie, Gladys and Dana immediately laid down to sleep while Jane, Kaye and I were left in the living room conversing about our high school lives. I termed it as a Scholarly Conversation. If only you have heard Jane talking, she talked in straight English! Hahaha… alcohol’s fault. The conversation went pretty well. It was only during that time that I found out that Kaye was also a Class Valedictorian! Wow!

At 1:30am, we stopped the Scholarly Convo and went to the bedrooms to sleep. I remembered, I still have a 10:00am call time for our Voice Pub Christmas party and community extension.  What a day!