Christmas traditions

When the month of December started, the countdown for the Christmas celebration also began. Well, who else isn’t excited for this once a year celebration. As you can see everyone is very excited with the gift giving articles I have read for the past days. And honestly I am enjoying reading those virtual gifts and the reasons behind it. The feeling of excitement I am feeling each day is growing, although I know Christmas this year wouldn’t be the same because someone is missing. The head of our home can’t make it this year because he had to finished his contract first. We’ll surely missed him a lot in this year’s celebration.

So for today’s blog I would like to tackle things that is still related to Christmas. These are some of the Filipino traditions we’ve been doing for the past years every christmas holidays. We missed some of it last year due to some restrictions that need to be followed and hopefully this year we will be able to do some of it.

Simbang Gabi

Simbang Gabi is one of the oldest tradition we’ve been doing for years. For my non Filipino readers simbang gabi or night mass is a devotional nine day series practiced by Filipino Catholics. It’s usually done in the dawn of December 16 up until December 24. Well as for me who hates waking up early in the morning, I opted to attend the anticipated “simbang gabi” at night. I find it more convenient and without any hassle of being sleepy inside the church. There’s this rumor that whenever you complete the nine days without being absent, you can make a wish and it will come true. Have you done it guys?

Bibingka ang puto bumbong

So after attending the “simbang gabi” what’s next? Well the sweetest bibingka and puto bumbong is waiting outside the church. Who wouldn’t like these sweet and delectable foods. Again I missed eating these last year, that’s why about last week, one of our neighbor offered me that his mother is making some made to order bibingka and puto bumbong for snacks. I ordered right away and the next day, we had it for our snacks. It was really yummy and when I posted it in my noise account everyone was commenting that they were craving for that too.

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Caroling

I am pretty sure this is one of the best memories I had back when I was a kid. With a just makeshift intrument such as tambourine which is made from tansan (bottle cap) and some christmas carols song you’re off to go. I remember being with some childhood friends and sometimes with my cousins. We spent the night going from different houses within our barangay and collected some money. After the night is done, we divided the collected money and planned our next gig for tomorrow.😅

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Christmas party

Christmas won’t be the same without any parties and all. The thing I love during christmas party aside from load of foods is the exchange gift. Who would never be excited with these “monito” and “monita” thingy. But as years goes by we became more innovative when it comes to exchanging gifts with our friends, families, and classmates. Gone are the days, that when you opened your gift you’ll find the usual photo albums, frames, handkerchiefs and other stuffs during exchanging gifts. Did you got those items too? But nevertheless, we should always remember that it’s the thought that comes not the value or price of the gifts.

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Family Reunions

This time of the year served as the reunion for every family. Because of the busy days working though out the whole year, they find Christmas as the perfect time to gather and have some family gatherings. My husband’s family is quite big, so for the past years, they always set a date so we can be together most specially it became bigger because of the grandkids. And mostly kids were the happiest during this gathering they collected a huge amount of money from the elders.

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Final Thoughts

I truly missed these christmas traditions we have for years. And right now this is gonna be the second year that we’re gonna missed some of it. We must still stick with the health protocols that is being implemented this year. Now that our daily cases is doing good, I hope by next year we can fully get back to the things we’ve used to do. Advance Merry Christmas to all.

Lead Image is from Unsplash.