Merry Christmas one and all! 

Tales of Kaylee and Coby

After one week of sleeping proudly in her own room, seven year old Kaylee has regressed somewhat and demands to sleep on a mattress on the floor of Coby's room, which is also where yaya sleeps. This has not really bothered us; at least, we save on airconditioning.

Since she started sleeping there, she's posted a sign on the door of her room.
The sign is in red crayon with yellow doodles on the margins, and it reads:
"Out of order"

You have to laugh.

The most wonderful time of the year 

How can you not get the holiday feeling with these two? 

That holiday feeling

There's nothing in Singapore's weather that gives you a sense of Christmas. Some people claim it's a few degrees cooler, but I think there's really not that much of a difference. The sun shines vibrantly in the afternoon and the glare is still, pretty much, tropical in feel. It's beach weather more than anything else. And yet, amazingly, I always feel that tingle of Christmas. Maybe it's singing in the choir for advent. Or the flurry of holiday gatherings that always takes place between December 5 and 23, before the Pinoys head to Manila for family reunions, endless parties, last minute mall shopping, traffic, and queso de bola. Why, already we've had a Christmas brunch and a pre-Noche-Buena Noche Buena that involved hot chocolate laced with Peppermint Schnapps--all taken in air conditioned comfort, of course.

But I have my own queso de bola...and even managed to wangle some Majestic ham. My little family of four has come to enjoy our Singapore Christmas celebrations immensely, I must say. Yes, it's true. The Christmas that Kaylee and Coby celebrate is vastly different from the zaniness of my childhood holiday celebrations. But it's no less joyful, no less meaningful.

In fact, I spoke to my sister about their impending celebrations back in Manila, and I was surprised not to feel the usual twinge of envy and longing. What's up with that? Of course, Manila is a blast and seeing my family, plus all the many cousins, aunts and uncles for the holiday season is always loads of fun. And yet, and yet, and yet...I find that I'm content, even pleased to simply hear about it second hand, happy to plan the times when I'll be calling in to say Merry Christmas to one and all as my sis's handphone is passed from ear to ear.

The truth of the matter is, I am happiest to be home for the holidays. Right here in my own living room with my husband and our children, enjoying the magic of our own Christmas tree and our old-fashioned parol. On the 24th, we will bake Christmas cookies, the same old-fashioned dark gingerbread recipe that we used to do at the Estebans' house so long ago. We will have a light lunch of sandwiches and maybe a soup. We will head out to survey the crowds on Orchard...then attend the 6pm Children's mass at St. Igs, which includes a Christmas pageant. Then home to Roast Turkey dinner and all the trimmings. We'll do a holiday flick at home...and after putting the kids to sleep, T and I may skip out to a wild Kylie-Madonna Christmas party, thrown by a friend and colleague, who lives, interestingly enough, in the transvestite district of Little India. We will wake on Christmas morning to garlic rice and tuyo breakfast, ham and cheese and milo, open gifts and just hang until our tummies grumble...then it's time for Christmas day brunch. What happens after that just depends: we'll go out to the park or for a swim maybe, and what I'd like to do is drop off our boxes to the Salvation Army as well. Then home to the family tradition of Turkey Barley soup.

I am toying with the idea of a Boxing Day merienda of cookies, cheese sticks and maybe some prociutto, melon and wine for friends that have, like we have, chosen to stay in Singapore. That, will play by ear...

38 Feels Great

And so another year begins.

It's a cliche to say time flies when you're having fun, but I persist in the notion. And today, I was given the welcome gift of a meaningful way to celebrate the day I was born, thanks to RSM and the Samsons. She arranged for a group of us to do a Christmas carolling session at the Children's cancer ward at NUH. As I had been toying with the idea of taking leave, it was the final push I needed.

I was up at the crack of dawn to attend the 7am mass...make my connections as it were. Then it was back home to enjoy comfort breakfast of champorado and tuyo with T and life-long friend Rofel Brion of the Ateneo. Kids are on break, so they weren't up, before we left for the hospital. Picked up Celeste then drove to NUH. Not too many kids, but there were enough. And we kicked off everything with a Christmas poem and a Christmas story, before singing Joy To The World, Jingle Bells (twice) and We Wish You A Merry Christmas. Margo, Gina, Rofel, Celeste, Ria and I were all in red. And we had a surprise appearance from Ally Samson and her parents Mikey and Lou, who have been discharged, thank goodness for the holidays.(Please see WHERE I CLICK for updates on Ally). After gift-giving, one more song and an impromptu "Fruit Salad" dance...we said our goodbyes.

Then it was off to Melt at the Oriental for buffet lunch--a sumptuous feast finished off by a Willy Wonka chocolate fountain fondu. Came home to find that my son and daughter made me gifts and cards, and we settled in for a reading of a chapter of CS Lewis's The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They then left me to nap while they went for a swim with "Nino" Rofel. Now we go for family crab dinner.

I couldn't ask for a better birthday!

A New York Movie

Back in the days of betamax, I was in charge of renting the family's weekend entertainment. Without fail, Mommy would tell me, "Can you get me a 'New York' movie?" Even at age 14, I knew what that meant. It meant much more than just--getting a movie set in New York. First, it had to be something romantic, or at least, something with romance. Ideally, it would be a city tale, New York City most obviously, but you could have a "New York Movie" set in Boston, San Francisco or even Chicago. Of course, the quintessential New York movie was Woody Allen's Manhattan. That's what Mom meant. I remember renting Romantic Comedy with Dudley Moore and Mary Steenberen from Sonix in Dasma. The Goodbye Girl with Marsha Mason and Richard Dreyfuss also counted, as did Kramer vs. Kramer as well as The Competition (Again with Richard Dreyfuss and Amy Irving) and Crossing Delancy (again with Amy Irving). These days for that New York Movie feeling, we revisit episodes of SATC and sometimes Friends.

Well, tonight, the husband, the mother and I went for Prime--a New York movie on all fronts. And it was okay enough. A good premise and a thin plot held up by a great cast and slick cityscapes of good old NYC. Uma and Meryl made the most of very thin characters and a "I see it coming" dialogue. Still, there were a number of charming moments alongside some utterly cheesy lines. ie: "Having you offer that to me only shows me just how deep your love goes."

But as a once-upon-a-time New Yorker, I did think more than once that this flick was a little bit like chewing on bubble gum when you're in the mood for dark chocolate.

It's always nice

to find someone who takes real pleasure in the work that they do for a living. As I sat for three hours while my cheery faced dentist filled four cavities, I was charmed by her murmurings, seemingly to herself. When the mold for my lower molar came out completely intact, she gave out a little, "Yay." When she studied the design for the porcelain cast, she clapped her hands. And whittling and polishing the newly filled tooth had her humming along to the whirr whirr whirr. She didn't know I was eavesdropping on her, and maybe, she didn't even know she was doing it. But it pleased me that her work pleased her so much. We should all be so lucky to love what we do...