it finally arrived, after weeks of christmas parties and exchange gifts and last minute [ and very last minute ] christmas shopping. it came despite all the crises and lack of christmas spirit [ think "the grinch" ]. our celebration was a simple one - i am, anyway, getting older every year [ i hope ], and the need for my parents to amuse me and follow my every whim come christmas eve has reached its end years ago. some christmas traditions remained unchanged though [ like buying last minute gifts for my mom, no matter how much she tells us every year not to buy her a christmas gift; and eating arroz caldo and ham every noche buena ].

so yesterday afternoon, we went to robinson's with papa, [ mama was left at home ], neil and papa's cellfone. the whole time, i couldn't talk to my dad at all, he was too busy sending everyone in his phone book a christmas greeting. he has been transformed into a text junkie. and they say we are the ones who have become too attached to cellphone and other technological advances. i was joking that if we need to talk to him, we would have to send him a text message even if he's sitting right beside us since his only communication with the outside world is his phone. it's scary. anyway, we later went to shangri-la and bought mama a bottle of perfume [ actually i chose the perfume - i had to call home and ask what brand my mom uses - and i just asked papa for money while he was busily texting away ].

neil stayed for a short while at home. we exchanged gifts. he gave me a paperback copy of "american gods" by neil gaiman, bamboo's first album [ yahoo! ] and a set of cray pas. at 12 am, we had our noche buena with mama, papa, bubbles.. my sister, bombee, patti and bianca arrived at almost 2 am and opened their gifts. we opened the other gifts on christmas morning.

the rest of the day, i was just finishing off [ almost ] all the leftover ham and the chocolates given as gifts by my parents' friends. haaa.. i wanted to go shopping for new clothes, but with the rate i'm going, i think i'm going to end up disappointed having to buy myself a size 30 pair of jeans.

well, nonetheless, merry christmas everyone!!! 1 more week to go before the new year.

Labels: christmas, family