As I’m spending my second Christmas 9,000 miles away from home, I count myself fortunate to have a close-knit Pinoy community to spend the holidays with, and doubly blessed to celebrate it with Markie.

Still, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat sentimental as we made plans about our Christmas celebration. So please indulge me as I make my list of things I miss about Christmases gone by.

1. The sound of church bells ringing at early dawn.

2. Budbud (”suman” or sticky rice cake) and sikwate (hot chocolate) on cool early mornings, after misa de gallo (”simbang gabi” or dawn mass), when I was growing up in Cebu.

3. Carolers, coming back for the umpteenth time, enthusiastically singing their own special version of Christmas songs at the top of their lungs:

4. The sights, sounds, and smells of our kitchen on Christmas eve morning. My lola, my mom, and any number of aunts, uncles and cousins would be preparing pansit bam-i, humba (a pork dish similar to adobo, but slightly sweetened with brown sugar), chicken-macaroni salad, lumpia, fish escabeche, leche flan, and other dishes and desserts, in preparation for the noche buena.

Whenever I spent the holidays in Leyte, an addition to this already festive atmosphere would be the sound of my dad, uncles, and older cousins talking and laughing while drinking Añejo Rum or San Miguel Beer as they roasted a whole pig on a large bamboo pole over hot coals in our backyard.

5. Christmas carols everywhere - in taxis, jeepneys and buses, in malls, department stores and wet markets, in hotel and office lobbies and hospitals, and even at the street-vendor stalls in the overpasses and underpasses.

6. In Leyte, dancing in the streets (called bayle), which the whole community goes to, in their best holiday outfits.

7. Seeing the faces of my family (or Mark’s family when we’re in Manila) gathered around the dinner table for the noche buena, and exchanging stories, kulitans and kababawans. For me, there’s really nothing like being around family (and very close friends) during the holidays.

8. Just the general, intangible but unmistakable, atmosphere of Christmas in the Philippines, that begins at the end of October (or earlier) and lasts until the first week of January (or longer).

Funny how these things, which I used to tune out, or which sometimes irritated me when I was back home, now bring a smile to my face when I think of them. When I do get a chance to go back to the Philippines, I promise I’ll be more appreciative and grateful for the things that make Pinoy Christmas a unique celebration in its own way.

Have a wonderful, fun- and love-filled Christmas, everyone!

Posted under Navel-Gazing

Last night we went to the Filipino-American Christmas party organized by our local Fil-Am chapter. There was Pinoy food (leche flan, yum!), kids’ games (I supervised the local version of “tumbang preso” or “tumba lata” - in my boots!), and community Christmas carol singing (we sang “Ang Pasko ay Sumapit” in Tagalog and Bisaya).

The highlight of the evening was when “Santa Claus” came to give the kids their Christmas gifts:


Santa in a wicker chair

Even though themselves battered down by two hurricanes in a row, the group also organized a relief fund for typhoon victims in the Philippines:


A donation booth was set up in one side of the hall

The kids had fun, and so did we!


Father and son watch the show with interest


Cutesy Christmas tattoos for kids of all ages

Posted under Navel-Gazing