Of Christmas parties and not pigging out
As usual, Christmas Eve was spent with my mother's side of the family. Somehow, they managed to get one of the priests from PCJ to come to my tita's house to preside over the Midnight (but really took place at 7pm) Mass. They also successfully managed to guilt-trip me into singing in the choir. Haha.
Ate dinner after the Mass - lechon, barbeque, tempura, roast chicken, and some other stuff I'm forgetting. Dessert was crema de fruta, fruit salad, chocolate cake, and lemon squares. The funny thing is that I did not, repeat, did not pig out. Huh. Just had a little rice, a stick of barbeque, 2 pieces of tempura, and a little chicken - waaay waaay waaaayy less than what I usually eat during a Javelosa party. As for dessert, just had a small slice of crema de fruta and a lemon square. Huh.
Had games afterward, joined in almost all of them (kid at heart :p) - musical bench (had a shortage in chairs so we used 2 benches instead - whoever could fit their ass on the bench was considered a winner :p), a variation of the caterpillar game (you had to run back and forth, fetching a team member each trip but you had to fit the team into a length of garter tied into a circle - I crashed into the dirt after tripping over someone's legs), having someone guess the word on their forehead by answering their yes or no questions (sucked at this), and catch the dragon's tail (sat this one out). Then my tita rigged a game for the husband and wife teams present - eating an apple without using their hands. Oh good God. We (meaning us cousins) were scarred for life. Rob and I should never have been subjected to the sight of our dad holding onto our mom's butt for leverage while he ate the other side of the apple she held in her mouth. Gawd. My cousins took lots of pics and video of everybody there - don't have any because I forgot my cam. Btw, my parents finished second. Don't know if I should be happy or disturbed.
We have a large family. I know this intellectually since I'm the one who ends up wrapping the Christmas gifts, but it's another thing entirely to see everybody there for Christmas. A hint of how many cousins I have: whenever a new game was starting, my tita would call for 2 teams of 8. We would form said teams and still have a few cousins watching on the sidelines.
Oh, we also had several small money showers. Didn't get a lot as it was primarily for the bakery and warehouse staff, the househelp, and the little kids. Doesn't mean I didn't try when the opportunity presented itself :P Almost ended up with a sprained wrist because I landed wrong.
Ate Kathy brought her boyfriend to the party. Now, introducing a significant other to the family is one thing, but feeding him to the wolves (AKA introducing him during a party with everyone there AKA Christmas) is another. Another thing that surprised us: they've only been together for 1 month. Huh. Martin, Rob, and I are of the opinion that we would have to be with our (hypothetical :p) significant others for at least a year before we introduce them to the extended family. That way, we can be sure that the said significant other won't run away screaming once they're subjected to the trademark Javelosa pang-aasar ^-^
One of the highlights of the night: presents! ^-^ The best gift I got (aside from the much-needed cash) was a set of bookplates from Tita Pao and Tito Ram. They weren't particularly expensive but the fact that Tita Pao knows me enough to know that I would appreciate the bookplates more than anything else made me really happy :-)The usual downer: too small shirts. Haaayy. For some reason I can't explain, people (including my own mother) keep on underestimating my size in shirts. Haaaay. As of now, I've had to pass on 3 shirts to my 10-year-old sister because they were too small for me. Haay. And they were perfectly nice shirts too.
Ate dinner after the Mass - lechon, barbeque, tempura, roast chicken, and some other stuff I'm forgetting. Dessert was crema de fruta, fruit salad, chocolate cake, and lemon squares. The funny thing is that I did not, repeat, did not pig out. Huh. Just had a little rice, a stick of barbeque, 2 pieces of tempura, and a little chicken - waaay waaay waaaayy less than what I usually eat during a Javelosa party. As for dessert, just had a small slice of crema de fruta and a lemon square. Huh.
Had games afterward, joined in almost all of them (kid at heart :p) - musical bench (had a shortage in chairs so we used 2 benches instead - whoever could fit their ass on the bench was considered a winner :p), a variation of the caterpillar game (you had to run back and forth, fetching a team member each trip but you had to fit the team into a length of garter tied into a circle - I crashed into the dirt after tripping over someone's legs), having someone guess the word on their forehead by answering their yes or no questions (sucked at this), and catch the dragon's tail (sat this one out). Then my tita rigged a game for the husband and wife teams present - eating an apple without using their hands. Oh good God. We (meaning us cousins) were scarred for life. Rob and I should never have been subjected to the sight of our dad holding onto our mom's butt for leverage while he ate the other side of the apple she held in her mouth. Gawd. My cousins took lots of pics and video of everybody there - don't have any because I forgot my cam. Btw, my parents finished second. Don't know if I should be happy or disturbed.
We have a large family. I know this intellectually since I'm the one who ends up wrapping the Christmas gifts, but it's another thing entirely to see everybody there for Christmas. A hint of how many cousins I have: whenever a new game was starting, my tita would call for 2 teams of 8. We would form said teams and still have a few cousins watching on the sidelines.
Oh, we also had several small money showers. Didn't get a lot as it was primarily for the bakery and warehouse staff, the househelp, and the little kids. Doesn't mean I didn't try when the opportunity presented itself :P Almost ended up with a sprained wrist because I landed wrong.
Ate Kathy brought her boyfriend to the party. Now, introducing a significant other to the family is one thing, but feeding him to the wolves (AKA introducing him during a party with everyone there AKA Christmas) is another. Another thing that surprised us: they've only been together for 1 month. Huh. Martin, Rob, and I are of the opinion that we would have to be with our (hypothetical :p) significant others for at least a year before we introduce them to the extended family. That way, we can be sure that the said significant other won't run away screaming once they're subjected to the trademark Javelosa pang-aasar ^-^
One of the highlights of the night: presents! ^-^ The best gift I got (aside from the much-needed cash) was a set of bookplates from Tita Pao and Tito Ram. They weren't particularly expensive but the fact that Tita Pao knows me enough to know that I would appreciate the bookplates more than anything else made me really happy :-)The usual downer: too small shirts. Haaayy. For some reason I can't explain, people (including my own mother) keep on underestimating my size in shirts. Haaaay. As of now, I've had to pass on 3 shirts to my 10-year-old sister because they were too small for me. Haay. And they were perfectly nice shirts too.