"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

Merry Christmas!!!!

I know, I know I'm 2 days late for that but I still want to greet you all a merry christmas just so you know that I am still, in fact, very much alive. I've been away from the blogosphere for the looongest time (3 weeks is long enough for me). I was busy. Yah it's a lame excuse but it's true. December has always been craaaazy for me, with lots of stuff to do and parties to attend to. So far, I've been to 5 christmas parties - and you know what that means : FORGET THE DIET. Anyway, it's alright. Christmas comes once in a year. And I've got plenty of time to get back in shape (if I'm not lazy enough to do it).

So. What are you guys up to this holiday season? Me, not much! I was more on tapping my spiritual side this year. I did mention on my previous post about the 9 dawn masses which we celebrate in anticipation of Christ's nativity and guess what???! I was able to complete it!!! 9 mornings of getting up early and going to church. Unbelievable!!!! For someone like me who hates waking up early, it was such an accomplishment. And I did make a wish. But I can't tell you yet. Not.Just.Now. Maybe one day when it happens you guys will be the first know.

Anyhoo, I went home to spend christmas with family. We spent christmas eve eating, eating and lots of eating. See, I'm serious about "getting back in shape". And I've got 2 weeks off work. Yay!!! That's what I look forward every december -our holiday break. 2 weeks of vacation is simply what I needed.

Since I don't get to spend much of my time at home, I lost contact with old friends. Some of them have settled to another place. So everytime I get home, I'm just stuck in our house doing nothing but watching TV, surfing the net, eating and sleeping. Whoaahh!! What a way to catch up with life. Well, I'm not complaining. This is the only time where I get to have a full rest without feeling guilty about it.

Anyway, I wish I could write interesting stories about my holiday vacation in my hometown but... there's not much to tell about. I'm stuck you know! Actually, my friend and I were planning an out of town trip to enchanted river but we canceled. I hope on my next trip back home I can visit some of the must-see places here and share it to you.

Christmas is in the air

***Note : This post is related to Mitch's I heart the 'ber' months.

Okay, so it's SEPTEMBER! The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was I greeted my roomate a chirpy, resounding

m-E-r-R-y C-h-R-i-S-t-M-a-S!!!

Oh no, not actually resounding. I'm not that feisty early in the morning. But sure I made an effort to let everyone know that today is the official start of the yuletide season. 

Yes. And I'm not exaggerating!

I'll bet my paycheck for this month (just kidding) if you won't hear the radio stations playing ♫ silver bells... silver bells...♫ OR ♫ you better watch out... you better not cry...♫. And you better watch out for those colorful, twinkling christmas lights flooding the streets and dandy christmas trees everywhere.

We are all excited about christmas, aren't we?

I'm excited too! It's my favorite time of the year, apart from my birthday of course. I'm excited about the parties, gift-giving, the midnight shopping and all those nonstop trip to the mall coz you forgot to buy someone a gift or you're looking for that perfect dress. It's chaotic but fun. And this year, I swear (like I always do in the past) that I'm gonna buy presents earlier to avoid the rush. I have 10 godchildren and it requires a huge amount of time to figure which one's for whom. The body size, shoe size, what do they like, male of female, etc, etc... Trust me, I've gone into considering these aspects when buying gifts. 

Reminder to SELF : Have a LIST. It's a must!

I've been wanting to complete the Misa de Gallo. Here's a small trivia : Misa de Gallo is a nine-day dawn masses that start on December 16. This novena of masses is very important to us Filipinos. It's sacrificial on the part of the church-goer coz the mass starts at 4AM. In some parishes they would have it as early as 3AM. Going to church this early, for nine consecutive days meant to show your devotion and faith in God, as well as to heighten anticipation for the nativity of Christ. Popular belief has it that once the devotee is able to complete the nine days, his/her special wish will be granted. So be sure to make a wish on the first day and stop being a sleepy head on the following 8 days.

When I was in high school and college, I could easily complete the Misa de Gallo. But when I started working, I could hardly keep up at getting up early and trying hard not to fall asleep at the workplace. That's what I meant by sacrificial.

Hopefully this year I will be able to complete it. There's a sense of fulfillment in there and a bit of nostalgia when I try to remember the good old days when I used to do it with my family.

So, Merry Christmas everyone!