Happy New Year! May God’s blessings come to all of you a thousandfold. I sincerely wish everyone all the best for 2007.  Cheers!

There’s so much kuwento I want to share with everyone but the past few days have been quite hectic what with 5 Christmas parties, 2 family reunions, an out-of-town trip and all the holiday feastings.  I’ll find time to sit down and collect my thoughts after I’ve calmed down from the holiday hustle and bustle.

Oh, before I go, I finally changed the profile photo I’ve had on display for the longest time.  This is my new favorite photo of Abby.  How do you like it? :)  Tell you more about it in the next few days.

Enjoy whatever’s left of the holidays! That’s a few hours for most of everyone.  :(  Nevertheless, make the most of it!

Just a quick post to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!  :) 

I leave you with a few words from one of my favorite OPM Christmas carols, Mr. C’s (Ryan Cayabyab) Heto na Naman..

“Wala na ba kundi panandaliang saya

Wala na ba kundi ako ikaw, at siya

Nalilimutan natin kung bakit may Pasko

Isang nagmamahal na Diyos

and sinilang sa mundo”

Muli, ang aking pagbati ng isang Maligayang Pasko sa inyong lahat!

Last Saturday, 16 December, was Dondi’s company Christmas Party.  Don has been with NEC since 1998 and we’ve attended every single Christmas Party.  That’s a grand total of 9!  It was in the year 2000 when the company started having themes for their parties.  So far, they’ve had Millenium, Filipiniana, Retro, Wild Wild West, Sporty, Fairy Tale and the most recent, a Luau held at the Dusit Hotel.  It was our very first luau!

It’s usually just the employees who observe the theme and their families and guests just come in “regular clothes”.  But since Abby came along, we try to have Abby dress up as per the party’s theme. Hehe.  But honestly, this year, it was a last minute decision (mostly on my part!).  We bought Abby’s costume at the Metro Department Store at Market! Market! a good four hours before the party (we were in the store for only 30 minutes!).

Party staples are raffles, games, male and female stars of the night, bingo games and one of the more awaited portions, the production number contest among NEC’s different divisions.  Except for one singing contest and one short play contest, they’ve had mostly dance contests.  This year proved to be a little more exciting since it was a Hawaiian night.  The four groups, in their grass skirts and leis, “hulad” their way to win the cash prizes.  I have to say that I enjoyed the dance numbers immensely!The top prize was a cool Php 8000. 

What I consider our personal party highlights are winning Php 1500 in the black-out bingo game (it would have been 3000 had there been no other winner but us!) and Dondi winning a DVD player in the raffle.  Dondi has so far won a washing machine, a VCD player, an overnight stay in a hotel, a free dinner buffet in a hotel and a 21″ television.  In the not so good years, he won a pressure cooker, a steamer and an electric teppanyaki grill.  Thank God this year’s raffle draw turned out to be a good one for Don! Haha!

As always, it was a fun party for the NEC employees and their families. 

Abby’s first time to don a grass skirt and all the thingamajigs that went with it.

Likod pa lang yan…. (It was a blessing that the airconditioning at the ballroom was “kaput”.  Otheriwise, Abby would not have been able to wear the bikini top all night.)

Heto ang harap….well, most of it.

Tada! :)  Shake your booty, baby!

Happy to be in Hawaii.
oOo

December this year has been parties galore for me.  I’ve been to 4 Christmas parties so far, all of which are “work-related”.  The first one was at Hotel Philippine Plaza for the PhilExport (Philippine Exporter’s Confederation).  I won a necklace in that party courtesy of the Meycauayan Jewellers Association.  The second was at Autohaus (the BMW showroom in Libis) for the HAPI (Home Accents Group of the Philippines) party.  The third was at the party hosted by the Richmonde Hotel (where we have a small office) for it’s Business Center tenants and the health club members.  My Mom won a free lunch buffet for two.  The last one was Dondi’s Christmas party.

We have at least 2 more Christmas parties to attend (one is the Playlab Learning Center Christmas party later today and our company’s Christmas party on the night of the 23rd), a birthday party on the 23rd, and 2 family reunions on Christmas Day.  I’m bummed that we had to skip Ninna’s 3rd birthday party which fell on the same day as Dondi’s Christmas party.  I was actually tempted to skip Dondi’s party in favor of Ninna’s.  Shhhh.
Enjoy the season, everyone!

I’m on a blogging roll.  Naipon na ang mga kwento!

Yesterday, (Sunday, 10 December), we brought Abby to Glorietta for a very nice treat…to see "Dora’s Sing-along Fiesta".  I consider myself an expert when it comes to Glorietta’s free shows, what with our successful Cirque Imago experience.  When the ad about Dora’s Sing-along Fiesta first came out, I made sure to immediately call up the Glorietta concierge to find out if they will be giving out tickets for the limited seats.  It wasn’t until a few weeks before the scheduled Glorietta run did they confirm that tickets for seats will indeed be released but, unlike for Cirque Imago where the tickets were released the day before the scheduled performances, the tickets for Dora will be released on the day of the performances on a first-come, first-served basis.  I knew then that there’s a good chance that we won’t get the much coveted seats.  This is Dora we’re talking about and she’s so much bigger than Regine Velasquez and Gary V!

We we’re going to see the 2nd show (3pm), the first being at 11am and the last at 6pm.  We got to Glorietta at 1pm, dropped my Mom off in front of G4 so she could get tickets while we parked the car.  Unfortunately, there were no more tickets available. Haaaay!

What’s a mom and dad to do?  If it were just me, I would have easily decided to just drop the whole thing!  But it’s Dora…the Explorer, with her friend Boots, and the Big Red Chicken and Swiper the Fox, we’re talking about here!  Abby would really love to see them in person…maybe get an autograph or have a photo op, too if given the chance (but that’s pushing it!).  Not to mention that I, too would love to see them!  Haha!

With the long line of people already waiting to be seated (both ticket and non-ticket holders) and with still 2 hours to kill, we decided to just find ourselves a good spot.  We positioned ourselves right next to a low steel gate which blocked off the "hoi polloi" non-ticket holders (that would be us).  We’re sure to get a good view anyway because nobody will be standing or sitting in front of us (except for 3 first aid/rescue people) since directly in front of us is a portion of the Glorietta fountain. Haha!  That’s one over them!

At first, we were just going to leave Yaya Amor with yet a McDo take-out to secure our spot, but decided against it when more people started to come over to our spot.  We all ended up with McDo take-out, except my mom who had a hotdog sandwich.  It was totally a "wowowee" moment, if you get my drift.

To make matters worse, Abby was getting sleepy!  And there’s just no way we were going to let her sleep!  At 3:05pm, we were saved by the appearance of a blonde girl who was part of the show.  She taught the kids some dance steps and sing-along actions.

Then finally, the stars of the show came on stage.  It’s a wonder what Dora and Boots can do!  Abby suddenly snapped out of her sleep mode.  She clapped and sang-along with Dora and her friends.  It would have been an even bigger treat if Map were there too!  Ha ha!

The show lasted less than 30 minutes, a quarter of the time we spent waiting!  But I’m not complaining…at least not anymore.  :)  It was enough that Abby and I got to see our favorite stars.  I just wish they were here for a real show, like the Cartoonival of Cartoon Network scheduled for this month at the Araneta Coliseum (That’s out of the question for us because we don’t watch any of the Cartoon Network shows!).  We would have paid to see Dora…comfortably!

Anyway, it was rewarding to see other parents with their kids, especially those without tickets, go through the same experience we did and not minding the long wait.  All for the love of their children. :)  My Mom said it for me, "the trouble that parents will go through for their children!"  Amen to that!

My mom’s one other comment, "Bakit ganun ang buhok ni Dora?"  Hehe!  What’s wrong with it?  My hair was like that when I was little?

All together now, "We did it? We did it! Hurrah!"

Dora and Boots dancing to the Dora the Explorer theme.

In English you say "party".  In Spanish you say "fiesta"!

The chicken dance with the Big Red Chicken…big talaga!

Swiper the Fox completes the show.  I forgot which "star" he snatched from Dora.

A few months back, we attempted to watch "Ice Age 2" at The Podium with my Mom, my brother’s family of six and our family of 3.  We ended up wasting two movie tickets, Abby’s and mine, because Abby, who wasn’t even 2 years old then, wanted to get out of the movie theater after a good 15 minutes.  It was all right, I guess. I honestly didn’t really feel comfortable bringing Abby into a movie theater just yet anyway.

Now that Abby’s gotten a little order, we decided to give the movies another try.  Last week, on 03 December, with our "Ice Age 2" companions plus Abby’s yaya, our group of 11 trooped to The Eastwood City Cinemas to watch "Happy Feet".  It was an exciting moment for me as well for the very reason that I haven’t gone to the movies since Abby was born…but that’s my personal choice and a choice I don’t regret to this day.  At least, I’ve proven that I won’t die if I don’t go to the movies! Ha ha!

Armed with our McDo dinner treats (we were pressed for time!), and a tuna panini for Abby (it would be hard to feed her spaghetti or fried chicken in the dark!), we were inside the movie theater 20 minutes before the movie was scheduled to start.  I’m glad we went in early.  The lights were still lit that time, which gave Abby ample time to acquaint herself with her new surroundings.

When the lights were finally dimmed, Abby sat on my lap and focused her gaze on the giant tv. :)  Once in a while, she would take a bite from her panini or sip from her water bottle.  Happy Feet was a good choice for Abby’s movie "break-in".  My little girl loves to watch anything with a lot of singing and dancing, and both the movie offered!

I knew that at some point she would get bored and perhaps would want to leave or find other ways to entertain herself.  She did whisper the words "go home" several times.  Thank God it was already towards the end of the movie!  She finally got down my lap (she refused to sit on her Dad’s!), like I said, to entertain herself.  She walked to and from Mommy Emy who was sitting by the aisle, 5 seats to our right.  It’s a blessing also that the only available row the time we bought our ticket already had the 2 "dead-center" seats taken, which meant our group of 10 was divided in half by 2 total strangers (Yaya Amor sat on the seat in front of my Mom).  Otherwise, Abby would have walked the length of the row.  Whew!

I loved the fact that so many times during the movie, Abby would look up to me and give me a kiss, as if to thank me. ;)  That more than made up for the long wait!  Next on our movie agenda would be "Flushed Away" and I hope it gets to be shown before Christmas.  Otherwise, we’ll be left with Enteng Kabisote 3, Super Noypi or Zsa Zsa Zaturnah! (Filmfest time, remember?)  Not!

oOo

Earlier that day, during lunch time, something happened which left my mommy heart skipping several beats.  While standing near the door, waiting for our table to be ready at Freska in Katipunan Ave., Abby decided to put her arm through the "door opening" when a waiter stepped out.  I was carrying Abby and was totally oblivious to what she just did.  I looked behind me just when the glass door closed and Abby let out a scream.  Her arm got wedged, so to speak!  Thank God we got her arm out right away!  Abby cried for a few seconds and was saved and relieved by the arrival of her cousins.  We put ice on her arm, which she refused initially, and then enjoyed later on.  It’s such a blessing that nothing serious happened, or I wouldn’t have forgiven myself.  She had a line on both sides of her arm which got a little black the following day.

I felt like a zombie the entire day and would cringe silently to myself everytime I thought of the incident.  Horrible!  Dondi told me he’s guessing I’m going to blog about the incident and I told him I won’t. ;)  But come to think of it, someone else might learn from our experience so I decided to reveal the result of my stupidity carelessness.

So mommies and daddies, please be sure to stay a little farther from doors (even windows or whatever sort of thing that opens or closes!), just to avoid having the little ones take on an unwanted lesson in "cause and effect".  It was a wake-up call for me.  I sometimes forget that I still have to watch Abby like a hawk, now more than ever!  Hay, buti na lang talaga God is good!