A Different Christmas

As the clock strikes twelve in a few hours, the Philippines and the rest of the world will be celebrating one of the two festive occasions in the year -- Christmas Day. Allow me to greet you and your family a Merry Christmas! This season is the best time for us to rekindle our relationships with the people we love the most. It's also the season when we celebrate Christ's birth, which is really the reason for this season.

I cannot help but look back at the past years, on how we usually celebrate Christmas eve and my grandma's birthday. Incidentally, December 24 is also grandma's birthday.

By noon, we're most probably in Paranaque gathering for our mother side's reunion. But this year, due to the death of my grandpa and the confinement of my grandma, our celebration became totally different.

We started the day really early by visiting my grandpa's tomb at Heritage Memorial Park in Taguig City. There, we offered food, flowers and candles to commemorate his life and love for all of us. Afterwards, we went to the Makati Medical Hospital to visit my grandma and eat at their restaurant called Floating Island.

Who would've thought that a hospital's high-end cafeteria can serve delicious food for all of us -- about 50+ in total?

Our food consisted of Roast Beef, Sweet and Sour Fish Fillet, Garlic Chicken, Pancit Maria, Rice, and Lechon, which we ordered from a third party supplier. Below are the pictures of the dishes we consumed during lunch time.

Both the beef and the fish fillet were juicy, tasty and tender. Yummeh!
The chicken tasted, well, garlic-y inside and out. It wasn't salty, just the way I like it.

During and after eating, the hospital's usual serene environment turned into a bar-like place, where people stand, hang out and talk loudly -- well, that's our clan. Imagine how many we are, comprising of babies, teens, yuppies, and adults. Nevertheless, it was fun seeing my relatives come home from the provinces.

Merry Christmas again to everyone! Enjoy the last few days of the holiday season.