As early as September, the local news had been giving us a Christmas countdown, to which I never failed to respond to with a heartfelt “No!” 100 days before Christmas: No! 40 days before Christmas: Nooooo! 25 days before Christmas: Noooooooo! (with hands pressed on my cheeks in complete horror) My niece and I also witnessed the ultimate sign of doom which is the lighting of the Advent wreath in our parish church. I swear, as soon as they light that thing, it means Christmas is just a few heartbeats away. And it was.

A lot of events unfolded amid the amount of work I had to finish before the holidays.

Early December, my mom wouldn’t let us eat dinner until we finished decorating the tree. Lol. I didn’t want to use the usual Christmas balls so we settled on colored paper, yarn, bunny baskets for candies, bunny cut-outs and silver garland. It took us quite a long time to finish the whole tree but it was definitely satisfying to see other people’s faces when they see our extraordinary tree.

Inspired by a certain furry pet we all love.

On Dec. 22, Booni turned 2. Last year, he had a banana for a cake so I rushed to the supermarket to get him an apple. I couldn’t find number 2 candles or any cute ones so we settled for these simple candles we had lying around the house. We also made bunny headbands so we would look like bunnies while celebrating with him. We, humans, had some strawberry ice cream while Booni ate a few slices of the apple.

Booni and fellow huma- bunnies.

After hurrying from store to store for last-minute Christmas shopping, I searched for some materials for a unique gift-wrapping style. It has been my tradition to come up with a different gift-wrapping technique each year. Everyone was surprised to see Christmas lights, and they kept asking me if they light up. Haha. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to engineer a switch to make the gifts light up. It was still a huge hit though.

Goodbye, ribbons. Hello, christmas lights.

Christmas was fun as usual. We stuffed our faces with chicken, baked mac and five kinds of cake on Noche Buena. On Christmas Day, we went to visit some relatives to catch up, and yes, eat lots again.

Poor Santa.

The New Year also came quickly as I had been very busy going from one wedding to another assisting my brother. I was actually just vegetating seconds before midnight waiting for the fireworks countdown on TV. 3.. 2.. 1 Bam! The power went out. The first hours of our 2009 were spent in darkness. Hahaha. The power came back before sunrise, and then we got busy preparing for our excursion. We got ourselves a private hot springs resort where we played Rockband and abused the karaoke. Um, I abused the karaoke. We were all tired from playing, swimming, singing and eating junk food. We capped the night of January 2 near the Manila bay inside a Chinese restaurant where we stuffed our faces with sumptuous food while a beautiful fireworks display enchanted our eyes outside.

I still have yet to finish my list of goals for this year to make sure I get as specific as possible so I can envision them clearly. But in a nutshell, I wish for growth. In my career, in my personal life, in my relationships- I wish to grow and finally become what I want to be. Every day will be day one and I will grace each minute with full awareness. Yesterday, I was invited to a Christian worship celebration, and though it was different from the Catholic Sunday mass I’ve attended all my life, I can say that it was one of the most enlightening Sundays I’ve ever had. I might not officially embrace Christianity but I am sure that I will come back once in a while to refresh my soul.

Change is good and I am ecstatic for more changes this new year will bring. Happy 2009, my fellow passionisttas!