The Road to 40 Day 229/365: Family Christmas Time

Christmas eve was always a special time, and this day, I got to experience family in three levels.

I grew up with a tradition of spending the 24th with the Lozada clan. It’s a day I look forward to because I get to meet my cousins and open gifts. Early on in our relationship, Che and I could potentially meet earlier in the day, but midnight was for our respective families.

As busy as this trip to the Philippines was, we cleared up the 24th and 25th exactly for that – family.

I went down to the dining table when I woke up to catch up with my sister and my mom. They were going to pick up my dad later in the day, as he was flying in from Bicol.

Vino woke up around 10am, and I asked him to have breakfast first.

Che went down not long after and we all sat there to talk. Since I moved to Singapore, these dining table sessions have been the best way to get to catch up with my family. We’d sometimes sit from morning until it’s lunchtime, then sit for a little bit more after that.

I had heavy breakfast while Che and Vino ate late, so we were fine by lunchtime. My sister planned on leaving for the airport at around 1:30pm. For us, Che wanted to have a quiet family lunch with just the three of us since we had this chance.

We went out with no idea where to go, and just searched for things on the way. We ended up at Mamou at The 30th in Pasig.

We love steak, and it’s our go-to special food, whether we eat at a nice place or I cook it at home. Mamou was one of the first real steak places that Che and I went to for a date when we were earning for ourselves, so it was a nice throwback to those days.

The mall was practically empty, so we thought if there was a massage place that was open, we could probably sneak one in. We found one at the nearby Estancia mall, so we moved there.

We walked in without an appointment, and thankfully, they had slots open for all three of us.

After the massage, I went to buy something from the grocery while Che and Vino went to the department store. Once we got those things done, we went back home to prep for Noche Buena.

My sister said that my parents don’t usually stay up late if it’s just them at home. Meanwhile, Che’s mom always has a grand celebration to welcome Christmas. To marry the two concepts, we decided to bring my family over to Che’s mom so that we can have a festive evening.

I prepped the house-famous salpicao as well as the baked salmon. When we arrived at the party, there was plenty of food already, but they still appreciated the dishes I cooked. I’m always happy to cook and share this happiness with everyone.

Before we started karaoke – a fixture in Marcaida celebrations – we took a moment to capture photos of the family together.

Karaoke started on a good note, because K-Pop Demon Hunter songs were available. Vino started off strong with a song-and-dance combo of Golden.

My dad was very sleepy already, so they decided to go home, but my sister asked Khail for at least one song. He reluctantly sang 100 Years by Five For Fighting, and we were just amazed at his skill on the mic. He nonchalantly got a 94 for his effort, and we were all so excited about it.

Kathreen had the highest score for the night at 99 after she sang a Korean song. She was hitting all the right notes while reading the Korean lyrics.

Verge and I tried our best to reach it, but my scores kept going down after an opening act of 94. I did hit 96 for my very last song. For Verge, he hit 96 early, but couldn’t best it anymore until they left at around 2am.

We got ready to sleep, so I opened my laptop for a Christmas movie – Home Alone. Vino hasn’t watched it yet, so I took it as a chance for him to see it.

We’re supposed to have lunch plans tomorrow, so we’ll see if they can get up early, considering they slept at around 3am already.