Throwback Thursday: Christmas Rituals

The first thing I did today was play Christmas songs (around midnight. Of course, I started it with "Christmas in Our Hearts". Miggy woke me up though because there was no electricity. There was a breeze outside, so it wasn't warm. It's probably due to supertyphoon Hinnamnor. I pray it doesn't bring any damage. 

Well, today is the start of the Christmas season. I have friends who have busted out their Christmas decors. I have to hold off decorating since we still have some work to do in our house. While listening to the Christmas songs I couldn't help but remember the rituals our family used to do when all our elders were still around. 

Here's what we normally do during Christmas:

1. Decorate the house - Mom usually started decorating after All Saints Day. She'd bring out all the decors from the boxes. Some were from estate sales in the US and others were projects we made through the years. As far as I remember we always had a huge Christmas tree and it would fill up with gifts towards Christmas.

2. Simbang Gabi - my parents always attended Simbang Gabi. They always had to drag me out of bed to attend when I was a child. Eventually though I learned to love it because of choir service. Of course, eating puto bumbong after mass is imminent.

3. Midnight Christmas Mass - we always attended the midnight mass as a family. It's been years since we've done this. 

4. Noche Buena - we usually ate dinner on the 24th, but always had a huge appetite after hearing mass. We'd eat Noche Buena after hearing mass and then go to sleep in the wee hours of the morning. 

5. Christmas Family Reunion - the 25th was always the day set for our family reunions. Aside from seeing my cousins and Titos and Titas, I looked forward to all the yummy food they would bring. Each family had a specialty and I regret not learning how they cooked it. It's also on Christmas day when my Mom would reveal her specially made homemade ham. This was prepared with much care and science (I always wondered what those huge injections were for). 

6. Gift giving - on Christmas day our tree would be overflowing with gifts. After eating lunch, Tito Tony would distribute the gifts by calling your name and throwing the gift at you. This meant you have to be good at playing catch and you have to be quick at letting him know if the gift is fragile, haha.

7. Leftovers - long before Sharon's song became popular for taking home leftovers, we always had leftovers. Mom and the Titas would always busy themselves to wrap the leftovers to distribute across the families. 

Well, as my cousins grew up and started to marry, the reunions got harder to organize. We also started to lose our elders, so our huge reunions have been downsized to eating out. We haven't done any since early 2020, so we'll play it by ear this year. Eventually though we had our own family reunions when the kids (the "apos") were growing up. It got harder to do when they went off to college and now some of them have gotten married too. Maybe eventually they'll be the ones organizing the reunions. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Nesting

We became empty nesters in late 2019 when Miggy decided to go back home after graduating. We felt lost for a long time. I remember Sweetie and I would stay out as late as we could to avoid going back to an empty home. It was hard and was probably one of the reasons why I had to take a break back then. 

We tried to extend Miggy's visa when he brought me back to Singapore in 2020. The government became stricter though and he ended up going home in late February. He went home just before the lockdown started. Thus started the 22 month time apart. It literally broke me. 

For almost two years we subsisted with daily check-ins via chat. We tried to make it fun by outdoing each other with good night memes. What we missed most were the hugs and Miggy would tuck us in at night and turn off our lights. We had a lot of mundane family rituals which was important to all of us. 

Watch our emotional reunion at the end.

Now that we're back home we just automatically started doing our daily rituals. We were definitely not ready when Miggy left the nest in 2019 and being apart because of the pandemic made things worse. Now I'm thinking, maybe the extreme stress from work and being apart is what made me sick. My doctors warned me that going home does not mean I'm going to get well instantly. I know that. I think half the battle is making my family complete again. 

Good thing Miggy missed us too! Haha. Things are settling nicely at home. I have made progress with cleaning up the kitchen. I can start cooking again soon. I hope the La Germania service crew can fix my stove. Also need to have our sliding door locks fixed since the heat broke it again. We got our tiny place 8 years ago and this is the first time we're living in it permanently. There's a lot of things here and there that needs fixing. 

Some things I learned through the years on maintaining a home:

1. Get professional cleaners to help every so often. We also get the mattresses and couch cleaned. 

2. When appliances break down, it's best to course the service request through the brand service center. It's been so far easy to get help by booking for help online, i.e. La Germania, Carrier. 

3. If you live in a condo, it helps to be nice to the staff. We had a gazillion luggages when we arrived and we bumped into the maintenance crew. They willingly helped us bring everything up. They've also been helpful to Miggy the whole time we were away. If you have a good relationship with the maintenance crew they can also help with disposing pre-loved items. 

And on the food front, here's what I had yesterday -

Quickmelt cheese and Lady's Choice mayonnaise combo sandwich - I initially freaked out when I learned about this from my busmate. I fell in love with it when I tried it. Super missed it since Quickmelt is hard to find in SG. 

McDonald's spaghetti! 

Army Navy hungarian sausage. We're still doing the rounds of ordering food we've missed. Will start cooking next week hehe. 

The best merienda though was the kutsinta we bought from our neighbor. For the first time we didn't have an kakanin leftovers! Haha. 

Annnddd my first Shopee purchase was Serioso Chili Garlic! Heehee. Try it gais!

#Home10 #NewG234 #Xmas42 #StayHome #BeKind  

We're Finally Complete

When I woke up this morning I realized "today is THE day"! Eagerly awaited the results of our swab test and breathed a sigh of relief when they sent it earlier than expected. Made plans with Sweetie while eating breakfast. Packing did not take too long and soon enough front desk called to inform us that our ride had arrived. 

I couldn't contain my excitement while waiting for our bill. Soon enough our gazillion luggage were loaded and we were on our way home. Luckily traffic was light, the funny thing is I panicked a bit when we turned a corner. I thought the drive made a mistake and was going to meet traffic head-on. I realized a few seconds later that people drive on the right side here. I got used to the left side for almost two years. 

As the headed down to our drop off I saw a glimpse of Miggy. I immediately waved. I literally jumped on him for a hug when we parked. I almost bawled hahaha. I think Sweetie took a video of our reunion. I feel my life could go on now. I am now unsuspended. That's how I felt since I moved to Singapore. 

I am happy. I am complete. We're going to finish our 4 day home quarantine first before we visit my Mom. For the next few days we'll catch up first, do many, many hugs and reorganize our home. I'm still in a daze and have to keep pinching myself that I am finally home. 

*Many friends abroad have been pinging me about the steps we took to get home. I'll make an updated post maybe tomorrow hehe. I just need to wrap my head around the fact that we made it back!

#Quarantine6 #Home6 #NewG238 #Xmas46 #StayHome #BeKind