after thought...

My previous post got me thinking… maybe aside from the fact that our family is not as complete and in tact as it used to be…maybe my bah-humbug attitude was also brought about by my many activities leading to the big day. I didn’t really have enough time to internalize and appreciate the season and what it means. I’ve had so many things going on in my life… my personal life (gimiks/reunions with various groups of friends, anniversary celebs, tons of pic taken and waiting to be scrapped, books purchased and waiting to be read,), my daughter’s school activities, my so called career (blech)…,I am just not used to this! I just like being laid back and basking in nothingness… hahaha! I guess I got caught up. It’s my fault. hay.

yep, it's still bah-humbug!

Christmas has come and gone without me feeling the Christmas spirit… I don’t mean to be blasphemous or anything… sure I know that Christmas is all about the birth of Christ… God became human on this day… but I just don’t feel happy.. or giddy… even after wrapping up the gifts (this used to a fool-proof way to jump-start my Christmas mood) oh wait, I was happy for a few hours, when my little girl played the perfect little angel during misa de gallo. We were all very excited, as expected… then came the yummy noche Buena… then the next day, during Christmas day… it was back to the usual grind. The fact that we didn’t have the usual Christmas day reunion didn’t help either. It was so quiet in our household… we quiet aside from the laughter and shrieks of the little one… hmmm…maybe I’m just not used to the fact that other family members have got other things going on in their lives and have become too busy to attend a reunion. Well at least we’re still intact… and hopefully we’ve let our little girl feel the warmth and importance of family during these times...

It's been 10 years, Baby!

Yesterday, hubby and I celebrated a milestone in our married life… we celebrated our 10^th year anniversary!  Woohoo!

It may be a surprise to many but now it can be said, we got married thru civil rites 17 months prior to our big church wedding. Why? Well, it was one of those juvenile yet life-altering decisions we made out on a whim. Hahaha! Thank God we didn’t make a mistake!

It was on December 10, 1999 at the Manila City Hall when we first said our vows in front of our friends and a family member.

These are the shallow yet very valid reasons (at least in my book) why we decided to get married then:

1. December 10 was our anniversary as boy friend/girl friend. I wanted our wedding anniversary to be the same. In 1999, that date fell on a Friday. A perfect day to be married. If we let that chance pass, we’d have to wait for another 5-6 years for the date to fall again on a weekend. That is just too long a wait for us! (of course I didn’t realize back then that we can actually get married on any day of our choosing)
2. It was our 7^th anniversary… lucky number!
3. I really believed in the saying: “When you’ve found the one you want to spend the rest of your life with, you’d want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible!”. (in fact, this line was included in our church wedding invites)

We also prepared for the special day. I wore a white dress and silver sandals. Hubby wore a white long-sleeved polo and dark gray pants. As witnesses, I had a good friend with me (she had to go on leave just for this!) and hubby had his brother and a friend along. They also dressed appropriately. =) The ceremony was officiated by a little man wearing barong (later we found out that he was a minister from a religious sect). After the ceremony, we all dined at the Max Restaurant nearby where hubby had a table reserved. It was definitely a special day for us!

To be honest, I really thought it was all a joke. Hahaha! I mean, the intention was there, but I really thought the whole ceremony was a hoax. Something to assure couples… to give them a sense of union without being bound legally.  It actually reminded me of the experience in the marriage booth we got married in during our high school foundation day….until a few years later and I was processing our application for our passports and I had to request for an NSO copy for our marriage contract. When the document arrived, I expected the date to be May 2001. Lo and behold: It showed December 10, 1999! What happened in that dingy little room at the Manila City Hall was actually binding and legal! Hahaha!

Anyway, it’s been a decade and there are no regrets! =)

 

The Super Duper Hectic Weekend That Was...

 

It started last Friday, officemates scheduled a dinner at a nearby restaurant. I really wanted to go since it was a new resto and I wanted to try their food,  but I was also thinking about dropping by the David’s Salon near our office, since I badly needed color on my hair. In the end, I opted to go to the salon and just gave away my slot at the dinner table… I spent a couple of hours at the salon (got myself a pedicure too, and chose a fire truck red nail polish) hubby fetched me and we proceeded to the Mang Inasal Restaurant for a late dinner. We got home late, but still went ahead and watched the DVD we rented (Lindsay Lohan’s I Know Who Killed Me).

The next day, I woke up early… trying to accomplish some scrap projects. Then I snoozed for a bit with the little girl… when we woke up, we ate a late lunch and proceeded to Puregold to buy some stuff for the Barkada Christmas Party the next day. Hubby and I then proceeded to the Intellicare Clinic in Makati for my check up. The verdict: I need a colonoscopy. (sigh!). We made a quick stop at Watson’s to buy some goodies for relatives leaving for the US. Our next and last stop was the Magallanes Complex. Hubby’s boss was celebrating his birthday and he hosted a dinner/videoke session. I was not in a sociable mood so I opted to stay in the car, still tinkering with my scrap projects…  After more than 2 hours, we were on our way home… stopping at the 7-11 store just to buy a hershey’s hot choco…

When we got home, we were dead tired and just literally fell on the bed and in deep slumber in no time…

After a few hours, I woke up at 3:30am. I got up to wash my face and brush my teeth… then I remembered that I still had some chores to do… the dishes I whipped up at Café World were cooked and ready for transfer to the counter *wink*, and I still had gifts to wrap. I knew I needed to wrap these gifts while the little girl was still asleep since she’d want to play with the toys meant as gifts for other kids….I got a little carried away when I decided to print my own Christmas tags. I found the cutest tags online and I tried printing them, but the black ink on my printer was running low, so I had to replace it first. It was my first time to replace the cartridges, so it took me so long… =) After a while I was finally able to print the tags, wrap the gifts and just as I was to put them in the bags, I heard small footsteps behind me, I didn’t notice that it was already 6:00am and the little one was already up!

I played with the little one for a little while, then I woke the nanny up, told her to start feeding the little one, since we were going to hear mass at 9:00am. As for me, I went back to bed and fell into a fitful sleep.

Hubby woke me at 8:30am. We all rushed to get ready for church but we still arrived late, leaving us no choice but to stand since there were no seats left.

After mass, hubby proceeded to a christening of a friend’s daughter, while my sister, the little one, the nanny and I hopped on my sister’s car and proceeded to Cabalen at Sta. Lucia Mall for our relative’s despedida. It was a rare occasion since we were almost complete =) save for my father who had a prior commitment and a cousin who was in the province, Pamilya Ganda was complete! It was an eat-all-you can buffet, so after lunch I was so full I literally thought I was going to burst! Hahaha! I only went to the buffet table once but since I was having digestion problems, (hence my check up) I felt soooo full!

At 2:30pm, no one was still standing up to leave, but we had no choice but apologize and leave early since we are still going to host a Christmas party for friends at 4:00pm!

Before leaving the mall, we went up to the department store to get a gift for the little girl who was christened that morning. Then we rushed home, hoping none of my friends decided to come early… on the way, we picked up some ice and table napkins. When we got home, we cooked the rice and the lechon kawali, bought the soft drinks, arranged the rented tables and chairs, hubby attached the balloons on the gate and grills, and made last-minute ligpit around the house.

Finally at 4:40pm, our friends and their families started to arrive…we decided to go potluck this year so they came bringing their promised dishes and desserts. I warned them that the little girl didn’t really have that many toys so friend Apple, volunteered to bring her son’s plastic slide and rocking horse so the kids were able to bond and play together. Hubby and I were very happy to note that the little girl is now big enough to play with the other kids, unlike in the previous years when she couldn’t join in the fun since she’s easily knocked down by the boisterous boys… =)

The yummy smell of Lechong Kawali filled up the whole house, provoking our appetites, so by 5:30pm, after a round of picture taking, we started eating dinner. Yum-yum!!!

After dessert, the boys started their own discussion/bonding session while drinking beer, while us girls caught up with the latest chismis over a bottle of The Bar. At around 9:00pm we exchanged gifts, to the delight of the kids! The husbands played their roles perfectly, paparazzi for the night, as we happily gave each other gifts. One of them remarked that next year they should be part of the exchange gifts too. Hehehe…good luck with that!

Before going home we tried rounding up the kids for a photo op by the Christmas tree, but since it was already late, they were already cranky and some refused to cooperate so we just moved the photo op to the couch and just clicked away since none of the kids were really in the mood to face the camera directly and smile… =)

After a few more pics of us – the party officially came to a halt… and with it our super duper hectic weekend!

Whew!