I wasn't really "stressed out" when we welcomed the New Year because my brother took over the cooking for the Media Noche. He prepared Sinugba Platter to set a tone for eating healthy for 2011. I just stayed in front of my netbook, playing games and blogging while waiting for the time.

We don't really go for firecrackers and fireworks, so we just went for the sparklers. I was happy to have bought a good set of sparklers, something much better than the ones I had a few years ago.


Our close neighbors didn't go for the fireworks either, so near midnight we just gathered outside to watch the fireworks set up by other people in the neighborhood. Sadly, I wasn't able to get a good picture because I was still struggling with the settings in my camera.

We have been friends with these people since then, and traditions didn't change - we still jumped, shouted, danced, blew the horns, and make all sorts of noises we could think of. Mom threw some coins, which made us scramble to get some... it was one of the traditions we had with the Raboys (our next door neighbor) since we were kids; we would throw coins at each other, and the coins we gathered would be our first money for the year.


When all the fireworks have gone out, we went back to our own houses to share the Media Noche. Aside from the foods brother prepared, we also ate some foods given by our neighbors.


A few minutes after, some of our neighbors went to our house for some round of drinks. This year, it was pretty much the "singles club," and aside from the drinks, we also shared different stories, some of which were about travel itineraries we hope to achieve for this year. Well, Ria and I were already set for a trip to Quezon Province for the Pahiyas Festival, and we will also travel back to La Union in October for the Surfing Break. Us single girls hope to travel to Anawangin in Zambales sometime in summer. I really hope we could do that.

It was around 2:30AM when we called it a "night." I still stayed awake, and went to bed around 4AM. It has been a good celebration, and I hope this year would be better than last year.

Please be good to me, 2011. :)

*** Jenn ***