Christmas Redux

It's official - we've made it through the hectic holidays of 2007 - christmas parties, get-togethers, lunches, dinners, brunches, coffee meet-ups and all.

The festivities for me started with Baz's school christmas party with him staying on stage without crying that was normal for kids his age. Then came our office christmas party where Hadrien gamely played Santa by distributing christmas ham thus earning his nickname of the moment - what else but "Christmas ham"? Baz enjoyed himself prancing to the music and playing photographer.

On December 23, the kids got to watch their first christmas carols by the Children's Joy Foundation. An Italian couple also visited with some sisters (nuns). They were due to pick up their newly-adopted son named Eman on christmas eve - imagine that! Maribel was supposed to arrive that night but the runway of Narita airport where she was supposed to make her connecting flight was iced, forcing her to spend the night in Japan. On christmas eve, the Cruz/Feliciano family was as complete as could be :) Tito Edgar, Tintin, Pam, Alby and Tita Ed celebrated with the four of us, mama, papa, Ickyboy, Joy, Jolly, Kristine, Maribel, Mikel and Nanay. Ate Ferry, who has been with us for 36 years now, was also there :)

Christmas day lunch was spent wth the Khans/Enriquezes, again, as complete as could be. We attempted to have a virtual reunion with aunts and uncles, including Auntie Na-a, in Houston. Apparently, we could see them but they couldn't see us. Genni's "thinking chair" was such a hit with the boys (ok, not just the boys but all of us) that it caused a push-cry-scratch fest resulting in Hadrien's "marked" cheeks.

On Friday, December 29, Baz attented the children's christmas party at Raffy's office where he got to play with Kristina, Bea and Nathan (among others). Hadrien was feverish and had to stay with me. Not to be outdone, he had pizza, pasta and green ice cream at Amici, where he was so behaved.

On Sunday, December 30, Marnie, TJ, Amelie and Miguel came over for the usual daddy-playdates. Being "helpless" for the holidays, we decided to lunch at McDonald's which the kids thoroughly enjoyed. Papa and mama then treated everyone to dinner at Paseo Uno in Mandarin Oriental where we celebrated Ickyboy's birthday. It was also Tita Ed and Maribel's advanced despedida party.

On December 31, we had brunch with Nonie, Jill, Gabby & Miggy and Mai at Kanin Club (Paseo de Santa Rosa). We also got to see Mai's new house (really nice!). Again, New Year's eve was spent with my family while New Year's day was spent with Raffy's. This time we judiciously refrained from buying fireworks (since last year, by Raffy's own estimate, only half of what we bought went off). At 3 am in the morning, (btw, both kids were still awake at this time) we said our "goodbyes" to Maribel, whose visit was really much too short :( No attempted virtual reunion with the Enriquezes this time but we got to watch home videos of the boys' cousin Ian. The boys also got to wade in Auntie Neny's pool with their lego fire tanker.

Christmas and the passing of the year makes most of us (including me) nostalgic. Going through the 10,000 or so pictures made me think about how much the kids have grown and conversely, how much everybody else have - for lack of a better word - aged. It made me realize and resolve to spend more and really, really cherish time well spent with family and special people we are lucky to have in our lives. Here's to living more and making more meaningful memories in 2008!