holiday chronicles

It was a very busy holiday for me and the family. Makes me wish that the holiday was extended a few days more. I woke up this morning and did the usual things I do on weekdays: coffee, a stick cigarette, warm bath and got ready for my commute to work. I would have played with Sophie before leaving but she's staying with my in-laws since we still don't have a babysitter. I hope we get one within the month. The house isn't the same without her playing and laughing all around as we get ready for work.

Sitting here in my area, planning my activities for the week brought me back to reality. I felt like someone just splashed cold water on my face. In some ways, I feel glad that I'm back. I missed work and I'm actually looking forward to this year's projects. Of course, you can't blame me if I wanted to extend the holidays. Who wouldn't?

Here's a rough chronicle of my 2 week holiday:

(inhaaale . . . )


DEC 19 - 23
My holiday started last December 19. Our whole family went to Baguio and it was the first time we were complete for a family vacation. It was cold. So cold that I had to buy a new, thicker jacket because the ones I've brought wasn't warm enough (for me anyway). 6 degrees Celsius is too cold for me, as it is for normal people who live in Manila.

It's been a long time since I've been there and I was so glad that I went back. Things are a lot different there now. I never experienced traffic jams in Session Rd before, but now, because of the re-routing (thanks to SM Mall) and one way streets, cars keep piling on the road. We only went to 3 places in our 5 day stay: Camp John Hay, Burnham Park and Mines View Park. Oh, we went to SM to buy groceries.

Sophie enjoyed the trip. She played with her cousins and I think she enjoyed the cold weather. Jan and I went to Mines View park almost daily, since it was just walking distance, but we had to take a cab or jeep going there because I was afraid the she'll have a hard time walking there since the road was uphill and may be difficult for a pregnant lady to walk. Besides, I wouldn't want to walk uphill also hehe.

We also had the chance to meet up with old friends and I'm so glad that we did. I learned how to play poker which we played every night. We had some car trouble though. We had the car towed from Marcos Highway to Baguio when we were going up. Fortunately, the city of pines was just 20 minutes away. I literally felt the saying: so close, but yet so far. We had radiator problems and we thought we fixed before going home. Unfortunately, we had to have it fixed when we had trouble again in Tarlac, and we got home at around 4am on the 24th.

DEC 24
Back to work for the day. Although I was pretty tired because of our trip going back to Manila. I was supposed to bring Sophie to the office but I was so tired that we asked my sister-in-law to pick her up instead. We'll be spending buena noche at my in-laws anyway. Fortunately, our company declared the day to be half day so I got off work early. Went to GMA to pick up Jan and her Christmas Package she won in a raffle. Went home to pick up our stuff for our over night with the in-laws and then went straight to their house.

I almost fell asleep while eating dinner because I was sooo tired. It was a miracle I lasted till 1 am of the 25th. I fell asleep as soon as I hit the bed. I didn't even bother to change my clothes.

DEC 25
I left for a mini-reunion with grandmother on my father's side during lunch time. I didn't bring along Jan and Sophie so they could rest. Me, my brothers and my cousin checked out the new apartment that we will be transferring to, as well as the property Jan and I bought (which was near the apartment).

We went back to Makati in the afternoon and I picked up Jan and Sophie for our Christmas party with my mother's side of the family. Jan opted to sleep at her parents house, which was near my grandmother's house, since she was still tired because of our trip. I went home with my brother Patrick so he could help us in packing our stuff for our house transfer on the 27th (it was supposed to be on the 26th but we were so tired that we had the sched moved). We went to Malate with my brothers and cousins before going home for a few rounds of drinks.

DEC 26
We packed and we packed 'till we couldn't pack no more! We're regular packers! I didn't know we had so much stuff! Couldn't have done it without Patrick. Thanks Pat, you PACKER! hehehe

DEC 27
Our moving day. It was a good thing the truck came early. It took some time to load our stuff in the truck, maybe because we were on the 4th floor and the building didn't have an elevator. We got to the apartment at around 6pm. Finished unloading at around 7pm.

DEC 28
Unpacked stuff. Arranged furniture. Went to Trinoma to buy groceries with Patrick. Got lost in Trinoma and went home late.Unpacked some more.

DEC 29
Unpacked again. Had lunch somewhere in Congressional Ave. Went home and unpacked some more.

DEC 30
Re-arranged furniture. Cleaned up all the mess. Discovered that the bathroom had leaks. Unpacked some more. Boy, moving to a new house is such a chore. Funny thing is, we might move out again within the year to transfer to our new house (hopefully!!). That's why we didn't unpack all our stuff. Just the ones we'll be using for the next 6 - 8 months.

DEC 31
Our first new year's eve celebration as a family. We were supposed to go to our in-laws for another sleepover, but we were so exhausted that we decided to stay home and go there the next morning. We bought some fruits, a cake and other goodies to celebrate. Jan cooked pasta and Sophie slept the night away. I told Jan that this should be our tradition from now on. It feels nice to celebrate, just the three of us. Next year, we'll be four in the family and I want us to have our own family traditions. By the way, we had an ultrasound before going to Baguio and we found out that our new baby is a BOY!!

JAN 1
Went to my in-laws for our new year family lunch. Jan and Sophie slept most of the day away. We went to my lola's house in Makati for dinner. Funny thing was, I didn't drink beer or any alcoholic drink that day. Not one drop. I think I was still tired from all our activities the past days.

JAN 2-4
Stayed at home and spent time with my family. We spent most of the day sleeping. Sophie had new friends as there were children within our apartment compound. My dad gave Sophie a new bike which she got on the 2nd. She loved it so much. She enjoyed playing with her new friend and all she can say to me was "Daddy, labas akoooo". I can actually see her face light up whenever she hears children outside.

We had to bring Sophie to my in-laws yesterday and this will be our normal weekend routine until we find a Nanny for Sophie. So sad but there's nothing else we can do.

(exhaaale . . .)

So that's how things went the past two weeks. I didn't have time to blog because of our busy sched. Now, things are back to normal and hopefully, everything goes well this year. I'm really looking forward to 2009. I have a feeling that it will be better for ALL OF US this year than last year.

Lets all have a good year boys and girls! Lets all pray that we all have a good year!

BTW: I'll insert some pics later hehehe

:-)