christmas in the philippines

i was really nervous about spending christmas here, away from my family. every christmas, my family (just the four of us) goes to the cabin in kingston, new mexico. i can’t describe the place – it’s peaceful and … really quite magical, special. we always cut down a tree, decorate it with handmade ornaments, string popcorn and cranberries, make cookies and decorate them, listen to old records, read in front of the fire. it’s such good family time and really … i can’t imagine not having christmas at the cabin. when i decided to come to the philippines for these six months, it was a big discussion with my parents about whether or not i would fly home for christmas. and only after a lot of tears did i decide to stay here, as long as brad came out for that time.

i talked to my family before they left for the cabin (no phone service there, so i wouldn’t be able to talk to them on christmas day) and really … struggled through the conversation. my mom made the excellent point that we really needed to plan the day a bit so that we didn’t end up sitting there staring at each other blankly for the day, thinking about our families back home.

in the end, we had a good, quiet day. we bought milo and marshmallows and had mugs of that while we opened up a few envelopes and gifts from our parents and listened to the one christmas CD brad has on his computer. there’s a small hike in the hills above coron which offers great views of the bay, so we packed up a small lunch to take with us and did that.





we even went to mass (didn’t understand a word, obviously, but (warning: am about to make a not too nice comment about catholicism) i figure i never understand what’s going on during a mass in english, so that’s really not too different) and then had a fabulous dinner at a restaurant out on stilts over the bay. even the service was excellent – and that’s a rarity in this country. [usually, the server hovers over you while you look through the menu, looks surprised when you order only one (this i don’t understand. yes, i’m sure i only want one plate of pasta? only one drink?), the food takes a good hour to come out and at separate times, typically about 15 minutes apart, and then there are no drink refills and you have to beg for the check, where again they hover over you until you pay it.] we left a nice tip for our waitress and she came over awkwardly as we were getting ready to leave to tell us we had paid too much. “no,” we replied “that’s for you. merry christmas!” it so obviously caught her by surprise and made her day, a cool feeling. one thing that did make me sad was that whenever we passed kids on the street throughout the day, they would yell out “merry christmas”, to which we obviously replied the same back, and then would demand “give me money”. it … hurts to hear this – not in the way that the beggar kids in mexico break my heart, but that they are demanding money, not begging.

i was surprised, after all the hype, by how small christmas celebrations actually seemed to be. i am so thankful that brad was here to celebrate with, even if the celebrations were subdued and small. it was so different from every other christmas i have had, but that was good thing.

i’ll definitely have to spend christmas at the cabin next year though …