Christmas 2021

Again let me greet you all a Merry, merry, merry Christmas. I hope that you were able to celebrate it with so much joy and love in your heart.

This year our Christmas was simpler. For Noche Buena or Christmas Eve Feast, we just had my signature pasta dish and ham. When I was still young, my mom and I would be busy preparing meals hours before Christmas. From leche flan to fruit salad to ham to pasta and to the main dish. Christmas was the time for my mom to cook up a new dish however, my dad is so picky that instead of appreciating what she cooked, you would hear negative feedbacks. Yes, that's him. And it happened again recently. My mom and I decided to make a potato salad that was similar to the one that we usually buy every ocassion for more than a decade as we were thinking that we might be able to make something at par with that potato salad. We may not made it the way how we wanted it to be but it wasn't that bad but for my dad, he told us that we just wasted out money, time and effort. I told him that we just needed some more try since it was our first time making potato salad. My brother laughed at it when I told him what our dad said.

Since we were only a family of 4, exchanging gifts was not really our thing. I planned to have that when I was a kid however, my dad being party pooper and my brother does not mind anything, we never gotten to do something fun for Christmas even on New Year. As years go by, I witnessed how we changed. From having a lot of food to prepare to less. From eating at 12 midnight and greeting each other to just having dinner and greeting each other the following day. I have never experience having a family Christmas party. I did got the chance to spend Christmas at my sister-in-law's whole family and by whole I meant including her aunts, uncles and cousins. Actually, I haven't experience it that much because I was suffering from a migraine so I just stayed in their room but I heard their laughter and how much they were having fun. I did experience it but only until after the program had started. My mom even told me about what happened the following day on how fun the party was. There were a lot of games, exchanging of gifts and even raffle. I hope that we can also get to experience it with my mom or dad's side.

This year, we ate a late dinner as we watched the Christmas Eve mass on TV that was streamed at 8PM. I ate with my mom and dad together with our helper on one table. Even if it was just pasta and ham, we still enjoyed it. I asked my mom to wear white and also my dad but I am sure you can already guess whether he did or did not do what I asked of him. After dinner, my mom and I watched Netflix until midnight so we were able to greet each other a Merry Christmas.

The following day, Christmas day, my mom and I started our day by watching the morning mass. It felt like it was just a typical day for us though our food was sponsored by my dad's friend who owns a restaurant. He sent us short orders of chicken curry, Chinese kikiam and lumpiang shanghai. The food was already good for the 4 of us. After that, it was a Netflix day again. We got a message from my sister-in-law telling us that they would be here the next day. Of course we were happy because we were not able to spend Christmas with them last year.

When my brother got married, they would always have a sleep over here on December 24th. On Christmas day, they are to celebrate it with my sister-in-law's side because that day was not only the birthday of Jesus Christ but also her sister-in-law and day before that was her husband, my sister-in-law's brother. But because of the pandemic, they never sleep here anymore. I would not be surprise if my sister-in-law would say that we have a boring family because we really do. Every ocassion would be the same. For years, we would have the same dishes that it will only change if my brother will be the one buying us the meal. I should not complain especially because I do not share with the expenses. I know I should rather be thankful because we still have food on the table during special ocassions but sometimes I cannot help but to feel a little sad about it. Some of our relatives would not ask us what our food is during birthdays because they already know what we have. That is why for my dad's 75th birthday last February, my mom's sisters pitched in just so he can eat something new. I do not know why my dad does not like to try food from different restaurants or caterers. If he happened to like one restaurant, he would stick to it especially if it is affordable. If my dad's friend did not gave him some dishes, I am sure that we would have the usual viands during everyone's birthday and those are laing, potato salad and beef kare-kare. Or he would probably order from his friend's restaurant some egg foo young, sweet and sour pork and fried chicken. Boring right?

But the other day when my brother's family came to have a post Christmas celebration, we had Korean lunch, samgyupsal. Meats, lettuce and side dishes were from their store. My brother just added a fried chicken and beef kare-kare from a nearby restaurant; which we just had when they visited my dad after he got into a car accident. My brother ordered it because he knows that it was what our dad wants. The last time we had Korean food I think was mother's day.

It may have been a typical family gathering but what made it extra special was our pictorial. We had asked my brother's family to wear red and we got to convince my dad to wear red as well. We even had Santa hats. When I posted it on Facebook, my mom's sisters were so happy to see a lot of family pictures in a different part of the house and that is the living room. We still had our picture taken in the dining area. This year, most of our photos were taken in the dining area. So for next year I am planning to add more Christmas decors so we can get to have our picture taken in different areas. I guess I should also think about decorating a part of our dining area for my dad's birthday.

How do you spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day? Our Christmas Eve and Christmas day may not be as fun as how it was with other families but I am grateful to be able to spent it with the whole family. I am looking forward to next year's Christmas.

P.S. lead image is our family photo.