the holidays left as quickly as they came. it was probably the shortest christmas/new year season i've ever had.

for new year's eve, we had some close relatives [ from my dad's side ] over. i'm glad that they spent new year with us this time. back in the 90's, we used to spend new year together with almost all my cousins from my dad's side. now some of them are in the states while others are in distant provinces. some have families already. some needed to move out due to hard times. well, wherever they are, i only have this to tell them: inggit kayo sa'min no?? hehe. joke. but seriously, we miss them. and i hope they can fly home next year or the year after that to spend holidays here. really, no matter how hard times are in this third world country, iba pa rin ang christmas/new year sa pinas.

we still had firecrackers this year, the usual fountains and roman candles. but mostly, we enjoyed the really nice fireworks of the next door neighbors and some neighbors two blocks away. it rained for a short while[ it was the first time it rained on new year's eve ], which was good, to lessen the heavy pollution caused by the fireworks a bit. we had the usual arroz caldo + christmas ham + baked mac + hot chocolate. there was the traditional coin pasabog by my mom, although we had to do it indoors because of the wet floor out. my cousins brought their "magic sing", which kept us busy the rest of the night. we didn't have the games anymore. i didn't want to be the one to initiate the games because i don't want to be teased about it - when i was little, there was one new year's eve when i cried because we didn't have any games. and so i woke everyone up after eating, and we had parlor games outside the house. i still feel stupid thinking about it.

and these are some pictures that always turn up every new year:

The Sleeping Uncle



The Dad Looking Silly With Both Hands Raised in the Air



The Mom Throwing the Coins [ or pretending to throw them to increase anticipation ]



The Greedy Sister Hoarding the Coins [ and carrying my cousin's one month old baby in one hand never stopped her from doing so ]





Everyone Scampering Desperately To Get the Coins

other [ feeling artsy ] pictures:

from our recent wallcimbing trip with the kids at powerplant



at spam jam galleria, new year's eve


bombee with the firecracker thingie



the view from my bed



and this is what i got bianca for christmas. cute, huh? [ notice the inscription under the doggie. hehe ]

i'm not making a long list of new year's resolutions anymore. i make one every two weeks anyway. and the lists almost always consist of the same things. honestly, if you read my list, or anyone's list for that matter, no matter how long it is, it only boils down to one resolution:

• to be perfect
  

no wonder my new year's resolutions don't get accomplished. tsk.

agh. school starts tomorrow. time to store away the digicam, clear the study table for space, make the digests. ARGH. i always have a hard time changing my mindset for school after a long, stress-free vacation. vacations always cause me to think about dropping out of law school because there are a hundred other places/fields i can be in which are not as taxing on the soul. anyway, this is no time to complain. i'll be studying in a while. pfft.

anyway, i hope this year would be a great one for all of us, despite law school, despite the feng shui prophecies that this year wouldn't be a prosperous one, despite the recent tsunamis in south asia.

Labels: family, new year