Christmas celebration and my first birthday

With both lola and lolo together with us, this year's christmas was not only my first, but extra special for everyone. What made it even better, I became one month old. So the christmas eve was a major celebration. Mommy dressed me up in a Santa suit. Yes, I was up late for all the fun. We had our customary family photo in front of our little christmas tree. It was festive mood all around.

Lola has been cooking all day long and everyone was helping out.  tita and tito De Leon's and tita Mitch came over for the dinner too. There were lots of food, beautifully red christmas decor, lots of presents under the christmas tree, festive music ... the whole lot.

It was a christmas eve memorable for both my parents. With their two children in their arms, it looked and felt a complete, warm and beautiful family.

Earlier in the week, my parents went up to the childhood centre for a four-weeks check on me. The verdict was, I am growing big just as I should be. Both my weight and length is at 50th percentile. My parents were well assured by the nurse - 'keep doing what you are doing as it is working,' they were told, much to my dad's delight. He has been a bit worried thinking I might be gaining weight too fast. Mommy is doing absolutely fantastic job with me.

Back to my one-month celebration, there was the christmas log that doubled up as my birthday cake. Then we had the ice cream cake brought by titas and tito. We had noodle soup - for long life. We had christmas bonbons before the dinner.

Following day, we went to tito Allan and tita Jopai's place for our annual christmas get-together. This year, kuya AJ was the Santa Claus and we had a massive gift exchange. I could feel the excitement of the party all around from all the noise, while I tried to sleep through it all in the next room. Daddy cooked his roast turkey for the party, while mommy rolled the spring rolls. My sister had a splash in the pool, under the rain. She was shivering in the cold but did not want to come out of the water.

Later in the week, we got together again at lola Bing's house for another party - celebrating her birthday. Once again, lots of food and dessert. Right after the party, we drove up to Wollongong for the day. As we drove up, we hoped for good weather. But the clouds had other idea. It poured. So we spent most of the day watching movies in the apartment we were staying. As we left Wollongong, tito Ronz called up to say - the sun is shining up high! Well, I didn't miss much. But I could see my parents were stomping their feet.