January 25, 2012 Christmas and New Year's Eve, 2011

I don't know why I haven't blogged. It's certainly not due to lack of material. Holy Cow! So much went on throughout December! Decorations are multiplying, caroling is increasing on the streets in the evening, presents are piling up in the living room and parties, family visits and food is being planned and prepared. All of that is familiar to me. Here are a few different traditions:

We had several gift exchanges, all secret until the final exchange. One was all 47 teachers. We only exchanged once, at the big Christmas party. Another one was held among all 6th graders and their staff,which makes about 300. I happened to get another teacher for that one. The 3rd exchange was among only the teachers/staff of the 6th grade and we had several versions of exchange that went on throughout December.

The first week we exchanged "something heavy". I found a pumpkin on my desk; I gave a bag of rice. The next one was "something wet". I gave roll-on deodorant and received a can of pinapple juice. Another exchange was "something sweet", for which I gave a little packet of candy. I was afraid I was going to forget to give the right gift at the right time, but I got it right... I think.

All these exchanges culminated in the big exchanges which occured during the parties. Parties last hours and involve lots of games and music and, of course, food. So right there are 3 major parties! Mama would love the parties here because everyone- adults and children, men and women- play the games- relay races, guessing games, musical chairs, singing, speeches- when you party here, you really participate! And, of course, tons of food.

While this fun is going on during the day, the solemn advent is being observed at church and the churches are decorated regally.  The last 9 days before Christmas are call "Simbangabi" and there is mass every day at 4AM and again at 8PM. You may be granted special intentions if you attend all 9 masses, but you will definitely be blessed by being part of the crowd. What a cultural (and spiritual) blast! I didn't intend to attend every one but the mood was such a draw. I'd step out of our house into the night and walk onto the street among the many others, all moving toward church. We'd greet each other and visit as we walked along.  Then we'd see the ornately decorated church and it's courtyard, strung with colored lights. If we were early, we'd get inside to sit or stand, otherwise, we joined the hundreds outside. The people outside listened to the mass on the loudspeakers and then filed into the church for communion.

Amy and I traveled to the island of Mindoro over Christmas weekend, so I missed the last couple days of Simbangabi here. Christmas was wonderful with Trevor and Amy. but next year I want to stay here for the holidays. I don't want to miss my H.Fam and friends here. I was here for New Years, though, which is the big day for my H Fam as that's  when their family comes from around the region and we celebrate both holidays at once. Amy came to share that and she was assumed right into the family. We had a wonderful time.

Our celebration started at 3PM with prayers of Thanksgiving. Then we ate a feast, of course. Then there was a birthday party for one of the Manila grandchildren, then we nibbled. Then we had a long Christmas party which lasted for hours but flew by in all the fun. At the end of that we exchanged gifts. We all got gifts for everyone else. Small, thoughtful gifts. I gave a modest set of towels to each married couple and a washcloth to each child. That tradition was exactly as my parents tradition was. Very nice. After the gift exchange, we ate. Then we sang videoke and visited, and ate. Then we had the New Year's Party with its own set of games and we nibbled some more and set off a ton of fireworks. The fireworks lasted for hours all through the town. There was a blue acrid haze drifting over the whole town. And talk about noise! It turns out the noise is purposeful- it drives away evil spirits so the New Year starts fresh and clean.  It was a lot of fun and I looked around at all these people surrounding me and thought, as I often do, about how kind and smart and fun they are! And I loved that they took Amy right in like family. They told her that, too. And they even had gifts for her.

This early-to-bed girl (me) was a little worried I'd fall asleep or get a headache staying awake but not to worry! I was excitedly awake and didn't drop into bed until about 2AM.

Happy New Years, everyone out there reading this blog.