Family day

They say that Sunday is family day and it sure was for us today because like I have mentioned yesterday that my brother and his family will visit us.

Blessed Sunday to everyone. I am sorry if I have not yet replied to your comments as I did spent most of my time with my family this afternoon. My brother and his family arrived late lunch and they came from the province for they are really targetting to open their Korean grocery this month. Just before they went home, my brother was really convincing me to manage their store. He even said that he would buy me an iPhone 13 right away and I jokingly said that I wanted an iPhone 13 Pro Max and he said, "sure!" then I added "256GB". He gave me that "I'll think about it look" or that "wait, I'll try to compute it first if it will fit my budget look" and I said that I was really eyeing for the 256GB. But he agreed to what I wanted but that catch is I would work for them for a year. LOL. Until he lowered it to 6 months then 4 months. LOL. It was 3 months if it was an iPhone 13. He even said that we can go to the Mac Store now but I told him that the mall is already close even if it was only 6PM. I know that the mall now closes at around 10PM. Not really sure but because they have loosened up a little bit that is why they are also planning to extend the mall hours up to 11PM or 12AM. Going back, I was really tempted to accept his offer but a part of me is holding me back. He knows where there's an available iPhone 13 right now because they just bought one for my sister-in-law. If my brother would show up with an iPhone 13 Pro Max 256GB then it is game over for me. I have no choice but to accept the offer.

Our house is more fun and noisy not only because of my godson but because of my moments like this with my brother. Then there is also my dad who would talk nonstop discussing about the news and current affairs but ltely he has been focused on the elections. He is in his senior years and is very talkative. I told my brother about it and he said that our dad is going to be like our grandmother. LOL.

How did you spend your Sunday? How about when you were still a kid? Growing up, Sunday was really our family day. My dad will go to work Mondays to Fridays (when he was not yet assigned as regional director), my brother and I would go to school during those days while our mom was left all alone when we were all out. Come Saturday, my mom and dad would go to the market first thing in the morning and when they come back, my mom would cook our lunch and my dad will listen to his old songs while reading the newspaper. Then after lunch my dad would head out as he have other meetings outside of work with his organization. My mom would start doing household chores while my brother and I would enjoy the day playing game consoles or with our childhood friends. Our Sunday would be the same only this time our dad is at home as Sunday was his rest day. And that means, he would be the one who can use the TV so no game consoles for us and we were not allowed to go out to play with our childhood friends because we all have to bond together just by watching TV, playing chess or doing our homeworks. That is how we spent our Sundays when we were still living in an apartment.

When we moved into our house, Saturday was still market day for my parents and my brother and I would just stay inside the house because the kids in our neighborhood were rarely goes out. It was also the time when our mom told us to do some household chores every weekends but I ended up doing a lot because I was a girl. Every Sunday when our dad was home, he would mow our lawn and my brother and I would sweep the cut grass while our mom was busy cooking our lunch. My brother had his tactics wherein he would say that he will just pee or drink water but he would not come back to help me sweep all the grass. LOL. Then after lunch we would rest for awhile and my dad or my mom would ask us to pick their white hairs. LOL. As a reward, our dad would ask me to call for pizza delivery. The reason why we started getting fat. LOL. If we cannot find any white hairs and I am craving for a pizza, I would voluntarily wash my dad's car both inside and outside. I think I was in high school when I have learned how to wash a car. It was like I was detailing my dad's car but back then we still did not have a vacuum that I would use the small broom and dust pan for cars. It was really hard but I enjoyed doing that and I would hear positive feedbacks from my dad until he noticed that I always asks for something everytime I would clean his cars. LOL.

There was also a time that our dad would listen to old songs every Sunday on his favorite radio station. But because we used to play with his stereo, he would get mad whenever he opens it and it wasn't his station. So we would manually search for each station by turning the tuner (if that is what it is called) if it was his favorite station until we placed a mark on our stereo. If you have experienced manually searching a radio station, high five. We are already old. LOL. We would laugh at our dad for listening to old songs but when I grew up, I realized that old songs are better than the new ones. This is just my own opinion. Ever since our Sunday has always been our family day.

Though when our dad was assigned as regional director, obviously it changed as he would come home after 3 months or more. Years before he resigned, he was assigned back to their main office here in Metro Manila, we weren't able to maintain that family day every Sunday mostly because my dad was also out even on Sundays and I have work. The downside of working in a restaurant industry, no weekends off. It was only my mom and my brother at home because my brother that time was still taking up law.

All the more that my dad was always out of the house when he retired. He would only stay in the house if he lacks sleep. He really did enjoyed his retirement by playing mahjong, cards and even watching cock fights. Then my brother got married that if he would invite us to eat outside, it was only me and my mom who would go. My dad will only come with us if we would be somewhere in Quezon City but we usually eat in other cities because of wide selection of restaurants. Even if my brother's family would sleepover here during weekends, our dad would still head out.

But due to the pandemic, now he is always home whenever my brother's family would visit. That is why I am really happy whenever we would have meals with the whole family. It is the time for us to talk about a lot of stuffs and our only time to laugh. It is very seldom that we laugh when they are not here precisely because there is nothing funny that happened to us as we were all here together at home. Unlike when my brother's family are here, they would tell us about my godson's naughty or funny stories.

If only I had a lot of money, I would buy a thousand square meter house and I would divide it into 2 so the other one would be for my brother's family and the other would be for us. It will only be a swimming pool that would be our partition but we can still both cross each other's houses. Of course it will be on the location that my brother prefers though I am not sure if there are still available lots in that area but I would really want us to see each other more often and not only when they feel like visiting us.

Now that their business is going to open any time soon, I do have a feeling that their visits will be more limited. Thinking about it makes me a little emotional. Before ending this I want to ask just a few questions for those who are married and has a family of their own, how do you plan your visits to your family/parents and in-laws? Where do you spend most of your free time? Is it with your family or with your spouse's family? Or are you living with your family's side or with your spouse's side?

After my brother and his family went home, I read @Murakamii.7's At home ugly in peace article where she also shared her time with her family. And here are our comments to each other:

P.S. lead image is our family photo during my recent birthday.