Christmas Eve Post

Remember that post where I said I'll write you a story when my heart gets broken? Forget that. He doesn't deserve a story. Remember the post where I said I'll write about the man in white? He wasn't a knight or an angel, after all. He was just a wanderer wearing a white cloak, asking for directions. I hope he reaches his destination soon. He still writes me letters sometimes; he keeps forgetting my advice. I reached the place ahead of him; I hope he arrives soon. This is such a beautiful place.

I would love to tell you how my 2013 went, but I'll save it for the year-end post instead.

It's not the first time our family's incomplete on Christmas Eve, but it's the first time two of my sisters are away. One's in Germany, getting a master's degree. But we're going to call her later and meet her "special friend". I don't know if they're already dating exclusively; I'll ask her later *wink wink* I promised myself I'll only get a boyfriend after she gets one. My other sister is...at "work." But you know what? She's not really at work. I don't understand why she would ditch our noche buena for something else. She doesn't even live here anymore. Doesn't she feel like she should at least grant us her presence?

But anyway, I'm still so, so happy. Even after long stressful hours in the office and so much academic work to do this break, I'm just happy that Santa gave me what I want this Christmas. I'm surprised I'm in his "nice" list, though. Santa's gift is another story. I'll tell you on the next post. For now, have a merry Christmas!

PS

For a Christmas-y feel, here's a picture of our tree with all the gifts I wrapped.

The Holidays

I had a blast.

Three days before Christmas Eve, my mom took me shopping for gifts. It was exhausting, but she bought me a pretty gift.

She asked me to wrap everything the next day, which I did. I love wrapping presents. There was only one thing I hated that day, that thing in my eye. I don't know how I got thing. I just woke up and then there's something inside my eye. It was stuck there the whole day. When I got so irritated, I called my dad and told him about it. He's always the first one I consult when it comes to my health. Btw he's not a doctor, he's an engineer. He advised me to go the hospital and ask someone from the emergency room to attend to me. I did, although I think it's really funny to be in an emergency room just because I have something in my eye. The nurses never let me walk; they always let me use the wheelchair even if I have to walk just to the next room. It makes me feel like I'm so sick. After cleaning my eyelid and flushing a liter (yes, a liter, seriously) of sodium chloride solution into my eye, nothing happened. I can still feel that thing in my eye. The doctor told me the thing must have been flushed away and what I was feeling was a scratch. She asked me to see an ophthalmologist in the morning.

Mom made me wear an eye pad so I wouldn't get too irritated when I feel the thing. I have a picture of myself with the eye pad, but I prefer not to show it to you :p

I waited in line for an hour. The patient before me was an eleven-year-old boy whose one eye was swelling. When I finally met my doctor, he made me peek into an apparatus so he could check my eye. It turned out that it wasn't a scratch. That one liter of sodium chloride solution didn't flush the thing away. He said that it looked like some part of an insect's exoskeleton. And that particular insect loves beds. So that's why I had it when I woke up. I trembled when I saw him get a syringe and a needle. For a moment there I thought my eye was going to get a shot. He used the needle to poke the thing off and he wiped it on a cotton swab. The rascal looked just like a speck of dust. He told me that my eye had a little scratch and that it would heal before Christmas.

I woke up the next morning to find out that it was really gone. Mom and Dad were working at the farm and they would be back in the evening, in time to make the Noche Buena. They were so tired when they got back that they drifted off to sleep almost immediately. Mom woke up at around 11PM only to find out that it was too late to cook. She made haste to cook anyway. We ate at around 2AM and my sister, who was spending the holidays with our relatives in the US, called. We told her how much we enjoyed our Mango Bravo cake from Conti's (we always have that cake for Christmas Eve) and that she missed it. And since my sisters and I had been nice all year, we gave her our wish list. Teehee.

Noche Buena by Mom

A closer look at Conti's Mango Bravo

I thought the next day would be just like any other Christmas Day - visiting Lolo in San Pablo, Mom's side in Makati, and then Dad's side in Parañaque. For some reasons, Dad's side in Parañaque couldn't prepare dinner so we had dinner at our place instead. It was a surprise dinner so we had to get home before them, clean our messy house, and make dinner. The cramming was successful. Dinner was followed by exchanging gifts, yay!

Those are my cousins with Lolo

I asked Dad to take me to Recto so I could buy cat, fish, and chicken bones. He used to go there back in college. All that walking around Manila gave his legs muscle pains so he asked me to give him a massage. He told me that he's becoming old. That he gets tired easily. He told me that I should have been born earlier so he could take me to Recto and buy stuff without him getting tired easily. I told him to jog regularly again.

I haven't touched my bones yet. Maybe when I get back to school. Anyway, I got a haircut. I was actually torn between growing it long or cutting it. I want nice, long hair to style on December (because my sister's engaged but I don't want to be the one to break it to you but who reads this blog anyway?). However, short hair is easier to maintain and my long hair makes me look ten years older I don't know. I'd post a picture of my hair, but I'm afraid I don't have a nice picture of it.

We spent the New Year's Eve in Makati, with my mom's relatives. She said she wanted noise and all, well, we got those.

Those are my cousins, Deia and Polo.

Cheers for 2012! Break a leg.