Eve of Christmas, we went to the chapel to hear mass. I was a bit sad because the family wasn't complete (sister still has work). It was a surprise to see my sister after the homily (she stayed outside the church during the gospel reading and homily). Christmas is for the family, and I was really happy that my family is complete for this year's celebration.
Our Christmas table was just simple. We don't normally prepare for Noche Buena and just eat the foods given by our neighbors, but since we have two teenage cousins staying here, we might as well prepare some. As with the previous Christmases, it was my sister and I who prepared the Christmas foods, and for this year we prepared Grilled Chicken Quesadilla and Fish & Chips.
Our neighbor and very good friend Ria dropped by to give tuna spaghetti and some pastries she prepared for Noche Buena. She also ate some of our Fish & Chips and chit chatted with us.
It was a very hearty and very filling Noche Buena. I was actually happy that I tried to prepare the quesadilla last 23 December, and through that experiment, I was able to adjust and the ones I served for Noche Buena was much, much better. Sister also did a good job in cooking the Fish & Chips, I was happy she helped me with it, otherwise we won't be able to eat by the stroke of midnight.
As always, Christmas will never be complete without the annual Christmas family pictures. Us three girls wore dresses bought at the Sidcor Weekend Market, and brother just wore something from his cabinet. Every year, my mom, sis, and I always try to go "uniform," and I really liked it that my family was really open with this kind of set up. This year, we posed by the living room near the dining area. We just put down the curtains so the dinner table will not be seen.
If there's the casual / formal pictures, we obviously went wacky, too. Actually, we try to take casual pictures one after the other, and if we were satisfied with the pictures, we then proceed in taking wacky pictures. This picture was a surprise for me - I didn't know what was happening and it was really awesome that even if I set the camera for 10 seconds, it was still able to capture a very candid moment of us.
Story behind the picture - we were aiming for a wacky picture and as my sister put up her hand to do the peace sign, her elbow hit part of my mom's head. She apologized by touching mom's head by both hands. On the other end of the sofa, my brother's way of getting wacky was to pretend that he was opening a gift, but he was surprised upon knowing the box was empty. His expression caught mom's attention, so she she looked to check what was happening. Then the camera's flash fired. Awesome!
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We slept past 2AM of Christmas Day, so we woke up quite late, too. Mom wasn't expecting any visitors, and since she decided to take my cousins to watch a movie and sister went to work, it was just brother and I. We decided not to prepare that much anymore, and I just cooked some menudo after watching "Julie and Julia" on VCD.
It was a very different Christmas this year, but even if the family was incomplete some time during the day, I am already happy and grateful that we were complete when midnight of Christmas came.
*** Jenn ***
