Kreativ Blogger Award

I just want to acknowledge  Certainly Not Lost Down Under  for this nomination. Wow, a second nomination in a span of a month. Thank you very, very much.

 

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How Was Your Christmas Celebration?

I really hope it was a blessed, peaceful and a happy celebration for you and your family. It was a quiet celebration for us, attending the Christmas Eve mass at our village chapel and the Christmas Day mass at St. Jude Thaddeus Parish where I received a personal blessing from one of my favorite priests, Fr. Matthew Fernandez of the Marian Missionaries of the Holy Cross.

For the first time in so many years, we got to celebrate Noche Buena quietly and I mean, no fanfare not much food on the table except for hot drinks  and fried chicken which I laboriously cooked on a charcoal stove after attending the Holy Mass at 7:30pm, an almost two-hour celebration presided by our Parish priest.  For the first time too, our LPG lasted for seven weeks when we changed our gas dealer last month. Unluckily though, it conked out on me when I was about to cook for Noche Buena last Christmas Eve. Of all things that has to happen, it has to be that!  I had previously cooked Embutido and Callos but they were frozen on the ref and reheating them  on the microwave was such a waste of time. My son suggested that we just listen to Christmas carols while waiting for 12 midnight. It’s our usual tradition over the years to attend the Christmas Eve mass together,  prepare Noche Buena meals then open our gifts afterward. It has always been a happy occasion but Nissa was not around to share the fun with us. They only came for Christmas dinner yesterday afternoon so we opened our gifts late and just enjoyed the quiet evening.  It was a completely different scene and  it was so peaceful and quiet.

Christmas morning found us attending the 9am mass then a marathon cooking for lunch and dinner.  Although it was fun giving Mom, son and hubby their own tasks to do, it was a bit tiring for me.  I told hubby  that I’ve done this for 29 years now, doing the cooking all year round. Can someone volunteer for a change and do their thing in the kitchen? 🙂 🙂 🙂 Anyway, Christmas won’t be what it is for us without laboring on the stove. We don’t go out much during Christmas day because sometimes, we  have visitors at home, relatives and friends who come to visit. There were times though in the past when we had Christmas lunch outside then later watched a movie. Usually, during Christmas day, all movies are in Tagalog because of the film festival.  I want to watch Segunda Mano but Mom says she does not want to watch horror movies. Gosh, I miss watching Tagalog movies, it’s been years since I did.  And I love horror movies.  Oh well, I wish Nissa is around to accompany me. I miss the girl-bonding.

I was reading the Pope’s Christmas Eve homily and I quote: Today Christmas has become a commercial celebration, whose bright lights hide the mystery of God’s humility, which in turn calls us to humility and simplicity. Let us ask the Lord to help us see through the superficial glitter of this season, and to discover behind it the child in the stable in Bethlehem, so as to find true joy and true light.

It’s so true, sometimes we forget why we are celebrating and whom we are celebrating for.

 

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