'BRRRR NA!

I'll start playing my Christmas cds this month. I noticed that, no matter what problems we regular people have, Christmas music always makes us smile. For me, Christmas is the most anticipated celebration of the year. I have fond memories of getting a lot of toys from my uncles and aunts. Me and my cousins (or my cousins and I) usually get two sets of gifts, one for our birthday and one for Christmas. But, of course, as we got older, we got less and less gifts and now, we're the ones giving them to our nephews and nieces.

Gift shopping has always been exciting. I remember when we used to go to Divisoria to get hunt for bargains. I actually bought a Hello Kitty phone for my cousin (who was a huge fan of the kitty cat) for less than P200! Every year, Jan and I set a budget for our gifts and we try so hard to stick to it. Most of the time, we don't, but just the same, we enjoy hunting for stuff.

Just the idea of having a family get together is fun in itself. When I was younger, we had two parties one Christmas day. Lunch on my father's side and Dinner on my mother's side. We missed a few Christmases on my father's side, but I hope we have one this year.

My brother Ian and two of my cousins' birthday falls on Christmas day. My birthday fall on the first day of Simbang Gabi, which I think I only completed once. I think I'll try to complete the mass this year. Last year was my first Christmas as a parent, and we tried to make Sophie's first Christmas as exciting by buying our first real Christmas tree with all the lights and trimmings. Sophie enjoyed seeing the lights going on and off and I enjoyed watching her enjoying! I also remember my youngest brother Patrick staring at our Christmas tree on his first Christmas.

This year, I'm planning to buy Sophie her first bike but my Mom says my Dad will buy Sophie a bike too so I might buy her something else instead. I think I'll buy her some Marvel toys! Hehehe (sakin pala yun!)

Christmas is not just for kids. My friends and I usually get together every Christmas which I always look forward to. A few beers and a couple of barbecues and the usual lechon manok lang masaya na kami!

I always look forward to the 'BER months because it always brings a nice and refreshing feeling. Minsan nga iniisip ko na sana araw-araw pasko, just because of the good feeling that it brings. The only crappy thing about it is that I'm sure I'll be hearing the BOOM TARAT-TARAT song wherever I go hehe!

:-)