Jojo and I began receiving texts from friends in Manila early in December, such as: "We're at our D12 Christmas tea party at BIZU. Thinking of you.." (from Danette), and “We’re at the senior pastor’s Christmas Party at the Fort. We miss you.” (from Juray).
Christmas just isn’t the same out of Manila, and I ached for my friends and the traditions we keep. I missed Deborah's ornament exchange, our Alabang Village tour-cum-dinner, the progressive dinner we have with the Saisons and Kuehns, and the Fort Sambang Gabi. I tried to replicate some of those traditions here, but “there was no one to play with me.”
I began to despair around the 20th, and then Gia called out of the blue and surprised me with a visit. Shortly after, the Yuen family arrived. Po Seng preached our Christmas service. Our missionaries from India and Myanmar came for Christmas dinner. I ordered turkey… Everything was fine with my world.
Oh, and the Fabregas kids came to visit on the 28th, but that's another story...
Hi Ida! Sorry it was only now I read my mails...we can relate...we left for short term missions in UAE Dec 16th and we stayed there until the 20th...now we're back home...grabe, I admire your desire to keep the heart of Christmas alive. God has a way of making each Christmas uniquely special!
ReplyDeleteHAPPY New year! Send my regards to the rest of the family!
happy new year idz! hopefully I can visit you one of these days :P
ReplyDeleteDapat lang bro! We miss you na kasi...thought you'd be at APEC. Also, you owe us tsismis, hehe! But it's really nice here if you just wanna get away from it all.
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