I’m crazy about holidays. It always speaks of family, and opens a possibility of seeing faces that I cannot afford to see all the time. This holiday season is another high point, except for the fact that I haven’t been spending it with my buddy, which, by the way, is a record breaker. A tough thirteen days, can’t imagine.

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My family and I have just come from another celebration— almost the last in the series of our action-packed schedule that occurs every Christmas break. This time, it was the birthdays of the newly wed couple, my cousin Jhun and his wife Abby. We arrived late. A blessing in disguise because we got the place to ourselves. We dined al fresco, using the same setup that they used the whole day for their guests. Ever heard of “pantomina”? They did that, and were able to collect a significant amount of monetary reward.

I was observing each person sitting around that table. My father’s brother Tio Art and his wife Tia Nesing. Tio Art‘s son Jhun and his wfe Abby. Ma and Pa. Jhun‘s broes and sis Kuya Cesar, Ces, and Paolo. My brother Ian and I. We were actually having fun notwithstanding the frenzied week that we all have had. I felt that this year has made us even closer than we were the previous year. And the laughter felt really good.

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The first in the series was our early Christmas dinner at Conti‘s with two of my closest friends since university years, Ela and Mai, together with our favorite men in the whole wide world. It has been a quite solid 9 years, guys.

Mademoiselle Joy, you missed this one and we missed you. Uwi ka na kse; enough with Europe.

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The wedding of Jhun and Abby at the Manila Cathedral followed. The priest was funny and his sermon quite striking, talking about the weight of being open to “questions” and “details” in every marriage. The event turned out to be a sort of a reunion especially on our side.

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Kuya Nong and his family visited us on the 24th. Kuya Nong is my father’s nephew and my mother’s sparring partner in every familial task. Their tandem has been proven to be pretty efficient. Their conversation usually ends up in bickering but, at the end of the day (I really don’t like this idiom, which reminds me of a local actor with trying pouty lips who never fails to say this line in every interview that I happen to watch unfortunately), they still choose to play tag team. They work well when they’re together no kidding.

*****

On Christmas day, we stayed at Nanay Toring’s house in Daet. Mother’s side this time. And, as usual, we occupied that long table, which has been there for ages and turned out to be an earnest observer to several generations. My family and I, my lola’s sister Nanay Toring, my mother’s cousin Tito Archie and his wife Tita Val, and two of their four kids Tere and David, and Tito Archie’s brother and my ninong Tito Juce and his wife Tita Delfa, and kids Jiboy, Gino, and Dea who will be migrating to New Zealand come January.

The mood was carefree and dynamic, thanks to Tita Val’s teasing my mother about her lavender coded dress-up and my mother’s teasing my two aunts about their lingering food prep.

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I’m not so sure if it’s because of the Christmas spirit. But with the way my family and relatives from both sides of the family interacts with one another, I can honestly say that we grow each year learning more how to acknowledge and value the relationships that we’ve established. I just hope we remain this tight.

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