unskipping christmas

now listening to: toni braxton's version of the christmas song

i officially started to feel christmas yesterday, thanks to our businessworld trip. for this year at least, i haven't seen any place decorated well as what they did to bw. white wreaths, a minature snowman with a few little blue lights, hanging white pine tree leaves, it was just beautiful.

it's a month and five days before christmas. here is my agenda for this year:

1. go to bazaars.

not to shop. or at least avoid it. i promised bea and maisie to help sell their stuff.

2. drive around the posh villages and policarpio street in mandaluyong.

it has always been my dream to go around all the villages. i just love looking at and taking pictures of brightly-litted houses in december along with life-size santas, raindeers, and snowmen. i have to give it to ateneo. you should see how they lit up the big trees.

3. finish the simbang gabi.

val and i have this plan of going to a different church for each of the nine days. nothing beats eating bibingka (minus the egg) and puto bumbong topped with lots of muscovado sugar and coconut to be taken with a cup of hot chocolate in the cold dawn. and even if my classes start late this sem, i wouldn't care.

4. buy and learn to wrap gifts.

since my christmas list doesn't contain a lot of people, might as well do it myself. our thesis teacher gave us a lighter pre-christmas break week, so i'd be worried only about theo and philo.

5. watch the fireworks display on the weekends of december.

last year, after dinner at greenbelt on a december saturday, i nearly cried of joy watching the almost 15-minute long fireworks display. i am such a sucker for pyrotechnics.

6. listen to my christmas songs collection when i'm driving and in front of my computer.

definitely not the disco versions.

7. have christmas dinners with bea, sid, ate duday, buds, katre, and maisie.

this has definitely something to do with growing up. rather than going to baduy christmas parties.

8. buy happy and sativa a christmas hat.

my cousin's maltese happy hates me in spite of my constant bribing. maybe this time, it'll work.

sativa is my favorite. so far, he's the only one who super loves me. he's vicky's (bea's sister) playful yorkshire.

9. clean and organize my room.

new start for a new year.

10. attend christmas eve mass at st. james the great.

just like last year, hopefully, this time without my mom.

11. find a friend/ friends who need help in putting up christmas decors.

you don't just feel christmas. you do christmas.

12. write christmas cards.

sometimes, christmas cards make better gifts than material things. however, a lot of people buy cards and write this way, dear blah blah... merry christmas... love blah blah. if that were the case, why don't you just give them nothing at all.

based on how i know myself, doing all these twelve is almost impossible. i wanna give them a shot this year.