eat drink...

first of all, i think this is the best Christmas of my adult life. it's the most joyful, the most cheerful i've experienced. and yes, the one with the most getting-together-and-eating that's happened.
we don't do noche buena at our house. so the 24th was a laidback day, spent watching "the sound of music" (for the nth time--always love it!), finishing wrapping the gifts, taking a nap.
on Christmas day, we went to Mass early because i served as commentator. and to our parish priest at that. what a blessing! then we went to ourmy adopted town, chinatown. when my dad asked where we wanted to eat, i immediately asked if we could eat at president. and since it was a special occasion, we did! good thing we got there early, because the place was already filling to capacity. i learned that it used to be a cinema/moviehouse. the stage and "silverscreen" are still intact. dithers, if you ever have a lauriat, you can have it there! or nans...?;) we had shrimp (of course!), my sister had beef with oyster sauce, and braised veggies for everyone. thought i might have room for mami...good thing i didn't dare. when the food arrived, we attacked. but midway, we were all feeling full to the brim. take a look at our contented faces:

as we were leaving the restaurant, they were unfolding additional tables to accommodate more people!
we then walked around, and marveled at how chinatown seems to not change. or hardly. i hadn't been there in about 3 months, but the rest of the family hadn't seen it in a year. but save for a new mei-ah branch, it's wonderfully the same. we couldn't resist stopping by salazar to buy a few snacks, and also bought some peeled sugarcane at a cart nearby. my dad loves the sugarcane juice at a small store near the corner before sta. cruz church but, as always, they're closed on a sunday. then we headed home to ponder our gluttony. haha!
come 6 pm, we headed out again to have dinner at palms country club in alabang, because it was my tito joseph's birthday. he's my dad's childhood friend, and we've been going out with his family and my dad's other childhood friends for a long time. at least once a year, and at some point, as frequently as every 2 months. it's always great catching up, because we (the kids) all get along well anyway. i'm the oldest of that generation. but so what? child at heart naman!
the country club, as it turns out, is at a very secluded location. the layout, i think, is like those country clubs in beverly hills. i loved the fountain immediately! the pool area is spacious, and there are a lot of activities that you can do there. but that night, the only activity we had in mind was to be done in the dining area. the Christmas buffet was a mean spread, made up of several spreads. but when i saw the dessert area, i almost skipped the rest. but i went through the "appetizers" (chicken breast fillet, potatoes), delicious japanese section (maki, sushi, sashimi), and some fried seafood before heading for the coup de grace. there was ice cream (never mind my sniffles!), Christmas pudding (too strong for me), Christmas stolen (something different), chocolate crinkles (they didn't go wrong), strawberry tarts (always satisfying), blueberry cheesecake (sinful!), and i think i had a fruit. haha!
we had to take our pictures at the gingerbread house and the tree at the lobby.

since all my dad's family is in the US already, and some of my mom's family is in zamboanga city and dipolog, we usually have Christmas lunch with my mom's sister and her family, and my ninang. but this year, we had to move the lunch to the 26th. thankfully, i say. we went to filinvest with our assigned dish, and met up with the family, including my tito's brother and sister-in-law. i stayed with tita vi's family for most of my college life, as they lived in UP bliss at that time, and i roomed with my closest cousin, april. but now, both april and chrissie are living in the US, and their youngest brother ryan is our only cousin still here. we ate a turkey-and-pasta lunch (ham made a grand entrance, but i didn't pay it any attention), followed by scores of desserts! almond jelly and lychee, ice cream (yeah, yeah, low fat whatever), chocolate mousse, carrot cake.

tita vi and tito nonoy had just recently returned from the US, and showed us their pictures--in powerpoint, no less! oh, of course we got gifts! belated birthday and Christmas ones! i received, as requested, my VSG sweet temptation cologne, blue (!!!) earrings-and-necklace set, hand-me-down boots (for baguio, siempre!), cosmetics.

with one of their fluffy, adorable dogs, jacob:

we also passed by the nearby home of 1 of mama's cousins, whose children i haven't seen in more than a decade! we visited with them and mama's aunt and uncle, who we have always liked visiting.

3-day over-all rating: too much eating but wonderful sharing all around!