I thought it was my last Christmas in the Philippines a year ago but it wasn’t! I am still here happily living every moment with my family. Though we are not a perfect family because of misunderstandings and shortcomings, we still try to be be better by understanding, by forgiveness and by showing how much we love each other. And this season, we found the true meaning of Christmas. 

This is me and my annoying-sister-slash-bestfriend being all crazy and awesome!

We celebrated Jesus’ birthday by giving back to those who were recently the victims of the storm. I also humbly tried in my own little way by giving my half sandwich or piece of pancake whenever i pass by an old beggar. I know it’s not enough but if each and everyone of us do that, it will make a huge difference. And last December 24, Saturday, i’ve listened to one of the best homilies i’ve ever heard. We can make our Christmas meaningful in three ways: to love others despite their failures or imperfections, to renew our faith by removing all pain and fears, to recommit our life by helping others. And the sermon ended by challenging us that we should value our family before it’s too late.

It was such feast when we ate dinner. We didn’t prepare nor eat much but we still feel grateful for all the blessing we received throughout the year. The next morning, December 25, we excitedly opened the gifts! We usually do this on Christmas Eve but this time it’s different. Look how mom pretended to be surprised with our present to her. She picked that set of silverware from Rustan’s and i still wonder why her face looked shocked. Hahaha! And dad was really pleased with our Battleship gift to him.

Look how priceless my sister’s face was when she opened my present to her. We have a funny video as well.  Finally, i bought her something significant with my very own hard-earned money from my work.

Look how she literally became a happy camper with her mint green double strap watch from Swatch she really does look weird.

Our polaroid photo failed again. Haha! I was overwhelmed with my gifts. I didn’t ask for anything because i don’t really need any material things but still God provided me with such presents. I am more than grateful, not for these, but for the people around me who made my year.

On the Christmas day itself, we visited our relatives and family friends in Manila. You can check my twitter for extra photos taken with my sister’s overused-two-year Blackberry. They kept saying how much my sister and i look beautiful already (so we were ugly before? huhu). Maybe because i tried to fix myself a bit or my sister just took a bath that day. They will really see how much i’ve changed if i put on my large pair of geeky glasses to match my braces. They can see ugly betty in real life. Hihi.

Christmas is really about giving back and it feels good to help others in need without expecting for anything in return. Cheers and Merry Christmas!

P.S. This is my first post using my newly-bought and registered domain! Now i can finally call this blog my own