Christmas and New Year 2014 Day 10-11

Dec. 28, 2014

MISTIMING

Mild weather and nice start to the morning. Though mom and dad looked like they decided to sleep in this morning, I (as usual) am enjoying sitting outside watching the morning sun come up. I did have to go around the front of the house to get to the back porch because I couldn't find the key that unlocks the back grill gate. Uli from across the lawn asked me if I wanted to go play tennis but I declined. I kept thinking that I had errands to run but really couldn't figure what.

Found me two of my long time snacks or desserts. The first one is called a banana-Que which is basically a plantain banana (best ripe), optionally dipped in a batter then rolled on a sugar bed. The second one is called Halo-Halo which practically translates to 'a mix'. Fruits and sweets are mixed in with milk and topped with crushed ice and an ice cream scoop on top. The preferred ice cream is Ube (purple yam) This are definitely two of my all-time favorites.

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We went to the 4PM mass only to find out that the bishop of Manila will be coming to hold mass at our parish church because of the town fiesta. We attended the early mass because we thought we had some preparation to do for our friends who are coming to the house for a get-together. They weren't scheduled to arrive till 7PM so we could have gone to the 5:30 and still had time to get ready for the guys. As usual, we had a great time seeing and talking. Other that Uli and myself, Demy and Ellyn, Manny, Bob, Mel and Michael, Desiree, Dindo and Raine, Gisbert, and Jojo showed. We stayed up till 2AM chatting away. I felt guilty having the party out on the porch as it is in close proximity to my old room where the girls are now camped in. Oh well. Its only for a night.

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Uli got me magnetic readers. Kinda cool! Btw, the 'baby' reference was for my daughter as the video was meant to be a text message I had difficulty sending via iMessage.

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Dec. 29, 2014

SHOP, SHOP, SHOP!

We make it to Green Hills and I got to pick up sussies for Katharine, Kelly, and Suzanne. Hope they like it! Had Chinese lunch and Luk Yuen and I have to say the dishes were pretty tasty. After shopping most of the day, we head home only to find traffic slow us down. What normally takes 30 minutes had stretched to 1 hour and 25 minutes. Hope mom and dad aren't waiting for us to come home and not have dinner till we arrive. I look at my watch and notice 7:30PM as I entered the house. They haven't even come down from their room. All is well!

T-shirts captions at Green Hills

Great! Stuck in traffic on our way home.. Grrr!

Tomorrow we venture out to purchase fireworks. I'm excited to see the New Year celebration here. Similar to the Fourth of July in the U.S.

Christmas and New Year 2014 Day 9

Dec. 27, 2014

SCARY

At 7AM, the day started with mom calling me into their bedroom to help dad because he couldn't get up from his chair. He had transitioned from the bed to his TV chair but was experiencing some kind of numbness on his left leg. I helped him get up but he wanted to go back to bed. He said he thinks his leg is cramping so we had him lay back down and start massage the offending limb and curling his toes. He complained that the left side of his left thigh is also very tight alternating with his entire left leg being numb and increasingly getting hot. He started to complain more about the heat and was visibly uncomfortable to the point of tears. We start applying a wet towel onto the leg and simultaneously fan it because he continuously would say “It is hot, the leg is burning hot!” The weird thing is that his leg was really cold to the touch. Anyway, mom texted their longtime doctor for advice and he instructed us to elevate the leg and give him pain medicine while continuing massage to stimulate blood flow. Took us till 10AM for him to get comfortable and was able to sleep. He was exhausted. His team of helpers who fanned, massaged and applied the wet towel were all relieved of this ordeal. It was the first time they've encountered this with him so they were equally scared. Needless to say they were just as happy to help him through it. It happened a second time after lunch but not as intense as this morning. I think it was because he expected and adapted to the pain and may have mentally calmed himself to get through it. My aunt Ining who apparently had been his 'quack therapist' as they all call her, was the main person who painstakingly had her hands on his leg for both events. Whew!

The day went on just staying in until mom needed to go the the grocery to get stuff for her pasta sauces. It is amazing to watch this woman buzz through the isles picking up her ingredients and other items on her list, fill up the cart, and finish within 15 minutes. The amount of stuff she collected would have taken me at least thrice that time as I would have dilly-dallied my way around the store. She was in such a hurry to come back home that she was getting impatient with whoever would slow us down: the cashier, the bagger, the traffic enforcer at the parking lot, even Melvin our driver who was organizing the bags of groceries in the trunk. I bit my tongue to refrain teaching her about proper employer-employee communications but understood her desire to return to dad's side. The lesson will have to wait another day.

Dad come out to join us in the dining room and we chat a little. He is way behind schedule in reading his morning paper so he dove right into it. At one point I could hear a marching band in the distance and thought there must be a procession taking place.

True enough the sound was becoming louder and I asked him if he wanted to see it with me but he declined. I open the gate to see the procession about to pass with about 150 attendees accompanying figurines of Mother Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus on a well decorated trailer. Aside from the marching band heading the procession, the people in the back are praying loudly and saying the rosary.

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In the evening, we meet up with Ate Cris, Kuya Ruffy, Ate Lourdes for a Mexican dinner and margarita. A Toda Madre is this super quaint bar in the heart of Makati. The area is quite bohemian even for Makati as foreigners and seedy individuals ply the streets. Don't get me wrong, the street and alleys were surprisingly clean but you cannot avoid noticing the number of people 'working' their trade. Most of them transvestites. Anyway, the food was exceptional and comparable to the best Mexican food I've had in Dallas. The presentation was well done as well. I find out that the owner actually has a house in Texas and flies back and forth quite often.

Christmas and New Year 2014 Day 8

Dec. 26, 2014

THE DAY AFTER

Got up at about 6:30AM to get ready and join Uli and sons for an early tennis game at the courts where I learned the game. It is always exciting for me to return to this venue since it has so much meaning and history for me.

At this point, the last time I played was about 5 years ago. Here! I keep telling myself that I should take up the game again but it gets too hot in Texas for me to play. Anyway, I still looked forward to this time especially now that I have nephews who are playing very well. I later found out that there are but as many as a dozen members left playing here. Probably not as much competition for the boys so Uli takes them out somewhere for tournaments. That's good so they can and need that to gain experience.

Got to visit my grandparents today. Uli and Lysia kindly took me there after realizing we had an opening in our schedules. There were flowers everywhere in the cemetery which I can only assume is because families and relatives came to visit their dearly departed ones in the last day or so. My emotions always get to me when I visit them flashing back to the last time I saw my grandmother who distinctly requested I wake her up the day of my departure to go back Stateside. 

I informed her that I will be leaving at around 4AM to go to the airport so we should say our goodbyes that evening. She insisted I wake her up anyway so she can properly see me off. The next morning, I felt bad about waking her up so I left without saying goodbye. That was the last time I'll ever see her.

Later that evening, we had dinner with Mom and Dad, Ate Cris, Kuya Ruffy, Ate Lourdes, and our gang at Omakase Japanese Restaurant. I didn't think I would be hungry given I ate so much two days ago from the feast Ate Lourdes prepared but I did. Tomorrow, Ate Cris will be taking most of the adults to a bar for some tequila shots. Not sure what to expect but am looking forward to this place. I hear it is one of the most popular places if you are a tequila junkie.

My nephew Luigi who recently lost his two front teeth. He got a dollar for the second one.

For another dollar, he'd set you kiss the back of his neck.

Mom opening the Hong Kong special wrapping from the Duty Free shoppe.

My niece Isabella was trying on a very small Disney crown. We couldn't properly fit it on her head hence the scrooge face.

My lovely mom!

Christmas and New Year 2014 Day 7

12/25/14

CHRISTMAS MORNING

Merry Christmas everybody!! I open my eyes and look at the clock – Yikes..9:49AM! This the latest I've gotten out of bed and is understandable since we stayed up for Christmas Eve and had the kids open their gifts. Our tradition has been to open all the gifts on Christmas Eve instead of just one gift and open the rest on Christmas Day. So much activity with everybody being excited and fanfare over their new stuff. Funny how it seemed only recently when we were the kids and were handed gifts from Santa and our parents. Eline made a comment that 'the gift less' meaning we the adults are now on the sideline when all other kids are busy doing what we used to do. Regardless, it is satisfying and fun to see all of them having a great time.

In the morning, we scheduled to visit my grandparents burial site sometime after lunch. Since it is only 11:33AM right now, we're resigned to watching the two babies (Luigi and Isabella) have fun and play with their toys. They're going to be busy for quite some time with the amount of stuff they got. Uli and family will be heading to his mom-in-law's house for a visit and lunch and they'll rejoin us after. I could take one of the cars and head out myself but could very well end up taking too long and not to mention lost so I'll stick it out here for the moment.

Update: grandparents visit postponed again. Timing is difficult given in-law visits are messing with my plan. Not complaining, just explaining. Also scheduled to go shopping at Green Hills. Picking up a sussy for Kelly there. 

Last minute challenge from Timmy for tennis tomorrow. I was trying to avoid my ass being beat. He sounded excited. Oh Lord!.

Christmas and New Year 2014 Day 6

12/24/14

RAIN BRINGS FAMILY TOGETHER

At around 4:50AM, I was awakened by the sound of rain. Lots of it! No wind, just fat rain. The plants and grass were soaked and a small pool of water had formed in the middle of the garden. As of 7:06AM the rain has not stopped and continues to pour. We were supposed to play tennis this morning so I texted all involved that the rain saved them from the wrath of my awesome tennis skills. Ha! On a serious note, I'm suddenly concerned that this much and prolonged rain causes flooding in the lower parts of the city and creates issues such as traffic and problems for the residents. I was also planning to visit my grandparents' graves but may need to postpone it till tomorrow. As of 11:33AM the rain continues. The weatherman says the tail end of a 'cold front' that just passed is what's causing all this rain.

My half sister Cristina is coming for lunch today which also happens to be her birthday. She will be bringing enough food to feed an army she says. Last time I saw her was dad's 90^th birthday. Part of the army will not be here since it Eline's mother in law's birthday happens to be the same date. More for me! Just kidding. And wow! She wasn't kidding about bringing food. Kuya Ruffy, Ate Lourdes, and Justin also tagged along. What a nice surprise!

Ate was able to connect via Skype with her daughter Alexandra who had moved to France with her husband Thomas and their son Kai.

Eline and brood eventually made it and joined us for dinner. We added Crispy Pata and Spaghetti Bolonese for the evening meal. The Crispy Pata was a consolation given we were actually looking for Bulalo, a beef shanks and bone marrow soup which is famous in the southern Luzon region of the country. Whoever have had this soup/broth sometimes swear that this is the best one they've every had. Kuya Ruffy is one of those people. He was so excited when I told him to get off his butt from the lunch table so we can go search for this dish. Took us a while to find this bulalo specialty place only to find out that they are closed for the evening. They took an early out given this is Christmas eve. He begged at the person/cashier who was still there but she stated that they had already told the cook to take the evening off and there was nobody left to prepare the dish. You can see the disappointment in his face when the realization he will not be getting this dish sunk in. Poor Kuya!

Anyway, we had so much food my strategy on only eating half plates went out the door after the first spoonful. It was so good!

My two nieces. My how they've grown!