Christmas 2015 Recap

Kamusta naman, February na, ngayon pa lang ang Christmas post ko. Like I mentioned in my previous post, nasilaw ako sa salapi and I accepted way too much work.

The days leading up to Christmas were a blur of shipping orders, wrapping gifts, shopping, etc. Despite me setting a cutoff in my IG selling account, buyers were still placing orders up to the last minute. Hindi ko naman matanggihan. It's like saying no to money. Tangent thought: When I was young, I didn't understand why my parents, despite sleeplessness and exhaustion during Christmas season (i.e., peak firecracker and firework season), never turned down a buyer. Kung minsan hating-gabi, may kakatok para bumili, and kahit antok na antok, they'd let the customers in, give them hot food, and prepare their orders. They had this group of customers na taga-Angeles who always wanted the biggest, loudest, and baddest ass firecrackers -- yung nakakabasag ng bintana. Eh bawal yun, talagang palihim gawin, and talagang special order lang. Ang siste, they'd go sa bahay namin sa gabi and saka lang gagawin ni Fadear. Yung mga customers naman, they'd sleep in their car and wait for Fadear to finish the firecrackers. Tapos uuwi na sila ng madaling-araw. *Sana buhay pa sila and intact pa lahat ng kanilang daliri/kamay/binti/paa.* O hayan, nawala na naman ako. Mabalik tayo. So, I accepted orders despite being past the cutoff. Then I had to prepare TheHusband's and Sharkteeth's gifts/tokens. TheHusband set a budget of 30 pesos(!!!) each for the tokens. Juskopo naman. San naman ako kukuha ng tag-trenta pesos?! Huwag naman ganyan. In the end, I found some nice floral cups for 24 pesos each and I just added a bag of tea. *Victory!*

For TheHusband's gifts naman, I bought some Mason drinking jars and placed assorted chocolates inside. Sayang walang pictures. Nabalot ko na kasi. I discovered my stash of Christmas-themed gift tags and stickers used them to decorate the brown paper I used as wrapper. *Victory!*

Sharkteeth's tokens to her classmates were chocolates and various kiddie stuff like character rulers, stickers for Lego figures, erasers, etc. May separate pang gifts for her friends. Haaaaay...kapoy jud. Due to insistent public demand, pastillas ang contribution ni Sharkteeth sa class Christmas party. Buti na lang, she helped in the preparation. I gave her the recipe and she was the one who mixed it. TheHusband helped and balled the mixture. *Family effort, wagas!* I added some royal icing snowflakes to make it Christmas-y. :) *Victory!*

Christmas pastillas

For her  teachers, I packed some chocolate mix and porcelain spoons in Cath Kidston mugs and decorated the handle. Hindi ko na binalot. I was bleary-eyed already. *Powerless na si Darna.* *Still a victory!*

Aside from my Christmas wreath, eto lang ang Christmas decoration ko. Tssskkk. Oh well. *Not a victory.* *sad trombone*

We left for Manila on the afternoon of the 23rd. Gabi na rin when we landed. Surprisingly, getting a cab was a breeze, and the traffic from NAIA 3 going to the expressway was very light. Kaso pagpasok ng EDSA, ibang istorya na. The traffic was barely moving. TheHusband and Sharkteeth proceeded to the hotel, but I went to Makati to meet up with Onyxx, kaso when I got there, past 10 pm na and papasok na si Onyxx sa cinema. We just had a brief exchange of gifts and chismis (of course!). In fairness, I was able to squeeze in a bit of shopping pa. Hehehehe. Paglabas ko ng mall, isang kilometro yata ang queue sa cab and walang Uber maski isa. Juskopo. I so wasn't prepared to ride a bus. But I did. Isip ko malapit lang naman ang Pioneer. Malapit nga, di naman umuusad ang mga sasakyan. Hay naku. Nung makita kong malapit na ang Guadalupe bridge, bumaba na ako ng bus. Eh malayo din palang lakarin yun, at disoras na ng gabi. What was I thinking?! Binilisan ko na lang lakad ko, para kung may mag-isip man na mang-holdap sa akin eh mahirapan sya ng konti na habulin ako. Hahahaha!

On the morning of the 24th, I woke up early and visited D in Heritage. Using Uber to and fro, it was fairly quick. I had an interesting conversation with the driver, who hails from Davao, about Duterte. I won't repeat it here kasi baka biglang tumimbwang na lang ang driver. *cough* *cough* *cough*

Heritage

Nag-Trinoma muna kami and bought gifts for the kids, then we went home na to spend Christmas with my family. As always, riot! Ang mga kids, flushed with cash! Inggit ako. Meanwhile, ang bulsa ko, luhaan pa hanggang ngayon.

Christmas mornings be like

The next morning, I left for Pampanga for my friends/college roommates' annual party. I didn't add the pictures anymore. Puro gilagid lang namin ang makikita dun kasi tawanan kami ng tawanan. I found a remote shutter for my camera phone and kung ano-anong shots ang na-take. *facepalm*

Somewhere in Pulilan

Per family tradition, we went to Baguio. *blah blah blah* You know the drill: KaTuGa (kain-tulog-gala). Add ukay-ukay (flea market) to that, and you have our itinerary. Oh, we had to shoot some spiels for Sharkteeth's vlogging project.

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We got back to Bulacan on the early hours of the 30th, and we spent New Year there. It's been so long since I celebrated New Year in the firecracker capital of the Philippines, pero pansin ko, it's not the same anymore. Dati parang kumukulo ang paligid with all the lights and noise, pero last New Year was a bit more sober. O baka naman kasi tulog lang ako kaya di ko napansin. We left early for our trip back kasi ayaw naming maiwanan ng eroplano. Kaso ang aga naman namin and we had time to go to Makati pa. I gorged myself on Kumori cheesecakes! Yes, "cheesecakeS" -- plural! Hahahaha!!!

The flight was on time and uneventful.

Heto ang tragic. Pagdating namin sa bahay, Sharkteeth noticed that Bacon, TheHamster, lost weight. When I held her, totoo nga. She was sooooo light. I could feel the bones. It turned out the damned ants stole all of the hammie's seeds and pellets and stored them on a mound a foot away from the cage. It must be so sad for Bacon to see all her food being taken and stored a foot away and she couldn't do anything about it. Nagtiis na lang sya sa tubig. Kaluoy. Good thing she didn't die of starvation. Meanwhile, I'm still waging a war with the ants. It's ON. It's SOOOOO ON!!! "You want war? I’ll give you war. I’ll be there in my red stilettos!"

Ipaglalaban kita, Bacon! Babangon ako at durugin ko sila!

Masamang damo. Hehehehe.