A New and Old Christmas

Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year, mostly because of all the traditions that the holiday brings. This year brought forth both old and new traditions, most of which filled up the last quarter of my social calendar:

• *New* Pink-Red Christmas Décor. LRI’s Christmas elves went around medical institutions: ISDF, UST, and SLMC to decorate pink & red wreaths, garlands and Christmas tree. Shining Shimmering Glittering Galore!
• *Old* LRI Drive-Thru. Second Year in a Row to wish and sing carols for UL enablers and give Parol gifts. Bonding with PMG after at Nuvali.
• *New* ISDF Chorale’s Caroling. First caroling of the group around pharma companies. Kapuy driving around to Christmas traffic, but it's been fun donning the hats and singing along with the choir. Dream come true :)
  
• *Old* Greenhills Night Market. Food tripping of isaw, bbq, fish ball, bibingka, shawarma, hotdogs while watching the COD christmas animation. Sarap!
  
• *New* Meralco Christmas Lights. Meralco added new attractions this year, from the large copper Belens, to the christmas houses, santa's sleigh, and Mom's favorite Train! Choo-choo!
  
• *Old* Simbang Gabi. Was not able to complete this year’s 9 masses, but was able to celebrate 3: 15^th at Greenhills (celebrated by Fr. Orbos), 16^th at CTK with Ling (our annual tradition), and 20^th dawn mass at CTK with family (another family tradition).
• *Old* Enchanted Kingdom. 10^th Monthsary celebration at the well-loved amusement park. It’s been years since I last visited, and though tiring, it was great trying out all the rides again. The ferris wheel has never had a lovelier sight, with Ling holding my hand at gondola number 20 :)
• *Old* Exchange Gifts. Learned about White Elephant exchange gifts this year with PMG and Ohana. Fun fun fun!
• *Old* Unilab Year-Ender. Didn’t win the raffle this year (lightning can only strike once after all!), but was able to join the program—singing the Christmas Carol with Erik Santos. Starstruck!
• *Old* Reunions. All new venues this year: Tentative Tuesdays @ Kebab Factory, Haberdei @ Eat Well, KwaiLuh @ Kabisera, and House parties with the ISDF Chorale (@ Mamu’s place) and Ohana (@ Milo’s place).
  
• *Old* Christmas Greetings. Mass texts, posts and emails to friends, relatives, officemates. No unlitxt this year though, Globe suspended it early. Boo! But can’t resist still mass greeting (and listing up) everyone.
• *New* Black and White Christmas. Themed Christmas for this year, both for our christmas outfits and our food. Julius and I cooked noche buena for the first time. Good job!
  
• *New* Christmas Lunch. Clawdaddy at Boni High for some good ‘ol Baby Back Ribs and Szechuan Crabs. Yummy!
• *Old* MMFF. Watching I Love You Goodbye with Drew. Probably saving Wapakman for DVD instead (haha!)
• *Old* Christmas reunions with BFFs. Catch up over mini-reunions with Eda @ Sakae, MOA and Drew @ Fish&co, Trinoma. Missed these two friends, it's been a while since we last saw each other... thank God for Christmas gifts (new notebook from Eda, and A Time Traveler's Wife from Drew) and great friendship over the years. *hugs*
• *New* Christmas with Ling. First Christmas with the Boyfriend, meeting up in Bulacan to hear Mass at Divine Mercy Shrine. Exchange gifts: my adidas ateneo jacket for him, and his coach bag for me. Loved them both, but I love my lingling more :)
• *New* Christmas Party with Villamar cousins. Joy and Ine will have a sleepover at our house as we take them out to see Manila.
• *Old* Sta. Lucia Fireworks. Watching the show with fam on the 30^th.
• *Old* Christmas and New Year Blogs :)

My December was certainly full of old traditions and new activities, as my planner has itself witnessed. But all these made the holidays truly fun, eventful, nostalgic and memorable. Thank you to family and friends with whom I celebrated each special day this yuletide season. Wishing everyone a Merry and Blessed Christmas!

Middle

I'm in the middle of the sales and marketing meeting, trying to fix our figures so we can hit our quota for the month of August. At the same time, I'm in the middle of my weekly tasks trying to figure out what to do first, my boss' requirements or those long-overdue papers that were buried in my backlog files.

I want to pause and take a breather and think about what I really want to do.. not just for today but for the long term. I'm tired mostly, often, because I feel lost already. I don't know if I should still be doing what I'm doing. I feel like I'm not myself anymore. This is not my strength. Bottomline, I'm not happy, I'm not fulfilled.

If I had my way, I would just be a housewife, a mother, a wife. An entrepreneur, doing the business that I would love to do, and not answerable to anyone else. I would take care of my family, my husband and kids (in the future), for in my mind, I was already able to work in corporate and be a brand manager... my dream since I was a kid. Now that I'm here, I feel like I ought to be... somewhere else now.

Then again, this job puts food on our table, pays our bills, and gives us the mobility/car that we need. The family has no one else to turn to, and I cannot be selfish enough to want something else when in fact, having a job in itself is a blessing. Much more with Unilab's comprehensive benefits.

The question then is.. how long do I drag myself to work? how long do I stay in the middle? how long will it take for me to take the plunge and lead my life the way I want it to?

*sigh*... maybe someday. When I'm at the end of my rope. For now, I'd settle for the middle-ground.

Friday the 20th

I never thought I would be happy again. After so many hits and misses, I was resigned to accept the fact that maybe singlehood is the path for me. And then, an old friend came along.

He had been waiting in the sidelines for what seems like a lifetime.. watching the flurry of people come and go in my life, listening and comforting me when things went downhill (like the good friend that he is), until he finally got the courage to fight for what he always believed was rightfully his (or so he says). One drunken christmas party after, on that fateful street in Quezon City.. he got down on one knee and asked permission to pursue me. Seriously this time. No turning back. And the rest was history...

The days and weeks and months went by, and as we met each others' friends, families, officemates, past flings, and got to know how the other half lived... I realized that I was truly blessed to find someone who not only fit my non-negotiables to a tee, but someone who sincerely, truly loved me.

I thought it mattered when or where or how.. but then all that mattered was that we were given this day to show how much we loved each other...

I'm keeping the faith, stronger than ever. I now believe that it can and it will rain when you want it hard enough. And that there is such a thing as the right person and the right timing. And that prayers can do miracles. And there are such things called fate. People who are meant to be. People who are soulmates.

Happy Friday the 20th Ling! Love you! :)

Wishful Thinking: My Birthday Wish List

I've always believed that if you wished hard enough, and if you write things down, your most fervent wishes are most likely to come true. Hence, in the essence of the mantra "ask, believe, and you shall receive", below is my birthday wish list (in case anyone is peeking):

1. A Surprise Party (I've never had one, and I think it would be a blast!)
2. Bath and Body Works Vanilla Lotion
3. Victoria's Secret Love Spell
4. Kate Spade Black Bag
5. Naturalizer Black Pumps
6. Guess Wallet or Fino Purple Leather Wallet
7. Parker Purple Pen
8. Tickets to a concert or a play
9. Bouquet of Purple Flowers
10. Kenneth Cole Dual Time Watch
11. Bridal Spa Package (Facial / Mani-Pedi / Massage.. the works!)
12. Seat Covers for Vios
13. Padded Laptop Bag
14. Olay Regenerist Set
15. Blue Ocean / Good to Great Book
16. Buffet Dinner at Circles
17. Home-baked pasta or cake (para may effort ;)
18. Platinum or White Gold Bangle / Single-chain Bracelet
19. Round-Trip Tickets to Coron, Batanes or Caramoan (my top 3 destinations this 2009!)
20. Gold clutch bag
21. Little Black Dress (or short-mini dress)
22. Face Shop Foundation or Eye Make-up
23. Travel Journal / Scrapbook
24. A Donation to World Vision, Tahanang Walang Hagdan, Red Cross, or U-Foundation in my name
25. A Nice Boyfriend (for a change)
26. World Peace ;)

26 Wishes for my 26th Birthday. LOL. Wishing and Hoping and Crossing all my fingers (and toes!) If by any chance I shall be blessed with any of these gifts, then I shall count myself truly lucky. Truth is, all I really wanted is to always have good health, peace of mind and to appreciate the love of friends and family around me. I'm already grateful for all my blessings :)

Haberdei to Me (and to Tita Cory!) :)