There’s no other great way to celebrate Christmas season every year but to be with your family and loved ones. All those get-together and gift-giving activities always bring back the childhood in me. I can hardly recall the last Christmas I’ve had with my family (when I was not yet married). Every year, I never fail to recall all those childhood memories I’ve had on Christmas seasons. Let me tell you a little history on how we celebrate Christmas in our family during the past years. This is just one major throwback.
I will always remember the Noche Buena that we’re having every year after coming from the last Simbang Gabi. Every morning of December 24th, people in the house are already busy. My titos and titas, lolo and lola have their own role in preparing our Noche Buena for the night. While us kids, we are on the waiting game side as we wait until midnight to eat Noche Buena and open our gifts after we hear the midnight mass. The next day December 25, we have this little tradition in the family wherein we go to greet our relatives and ask for some “Aguinaldo”, which is a money gift (of any amount) from them. We have this lolo who has a little store just beside our home and whom we visit on the morning of Christmas day and ask for “Aguinaldo”. He would normally prepare a pack of goodies with money gift inside. We fall in line in his store as he distributes the goodies to us kids. He’s like our Santa Claus during that time.
As soon as Christmas day ends, we used to count all the “Aguinaldo” that we collected from our relatives. Sometimes the youngest of us all get to collect the highest amount. I don’t know how it happened maybe because all the attention and importance are given to them, thus higher value of “Aguinaldo” are given to them.
Setting aside the throwback that I mentioned, for this year, the celebration of Christmas is different. This time, it’s only with my siblings and their families. I booked a hotel at Discovery Suites, Ortigas from December 23-26. My brother with his wife and kids who are based in Pampanga went to Manila to celebrate with us. Also, m y sister and her son from San Mateo were able to travel to Manila for the celebration. It was a simple get-together that I arranged so we can see each other, especially the kids. Meeting their fellow cousins will always be a priceless event for them.
My brother and his family arrived in our place at around 9am on December 23. After having breakfast and a little prep, we leave our home at 12nn. We took photos of the kids before leaving our condominium for remembrance :)
I will always remember the Noche Buena that we’re having every year after coming from the last Simbang Gabi. Every morning of December 24th, people in the house are already busy. My titos and titas, lolo and lola have their own role in preparing our Noche Buena for the night. While us kids, we are on the waiting game side as we wait until midnight to eat Noche Buena and open our gifts after we hear the midnight mass. The next day December 25, we have this little tradition in the family wherein we go to greet our relatives and ask for some “Aguinaldo”, which is a money gift (of any amount) from them. We have this lolo who has a little store just beside our home and whom we visit on the morning of Christmas day and ask for “Aguinaldo”. He would normally prepare a pack of goodies with money gift inside. We fall in line in his store as he distributes the goodies to us kids. He’s like our Santa Claus during that time.
As soon as Christmas day ends, we used to count all the “Aguinaldo” that we collected from our relatives. Sometimes the youngest of us all get to collect the highest amount. I don’t know how it happened maybe because all the attention and importance are given to them, thus higher value of “Aguinaldo” are given to them.
Setting aside the throwback that I mentioned, for this year, the celebration of Christmas is different. This time, it’s only with my siblings and their families. I booked a hotel at Discovery Suites, Ortigas from December 23-26. My brother with his wife and kids who are based in Pampanga went to Manila to celebrate with us. Also, m y sister and her son from San Mateo were able to travel to Manila for the celebration. It was a simple get-together that I arranged so we can see each other, especially the kids. Meeting their fellow cousins will always be a priceless event for them.
My brother and his family arrived in our place at around 9am on December 23. After having breakfast and a little prep, we leave our home at 12nn. We took photos of the kids before leaving our condominium for remembrance :)
We arrived at the Discovery Suites Ortigas at around 1pm. It’s a good thing that guests are not yet rushing in when we arrived and we’re able to check-in without any stress. The hotel was decorated with ease and Christmas-friendly ornaments for the kids. There's this big Christmas tree with I think about 10-12 feet in high. The tree comes in red theme and big boxes of gifts around it. There 's this also gingerbread house wherein all the decorations and materials were made of real/edible candies and ginger cookies. All the kids are really having their taste on it as they directly eat and bite all the candies and cookies from the house.
The One Bedroom Suite that we got was huge just enough for a family of 10 pax (including kids). The size of the room is about 80 square meters with separate living room, spacious bed room, fully-furnished kitchen, and a dining table. There’s a queen size bed and the bathroom is about 20 square meters with bath tub and premium bath amenities. In the living room, there’s a flat television, lounge sofas, coffee table, and mini-component. While the kitchen is equipped with cooking/dining implements, coffee/tea maker, four-burner stove, microwave oven, and refrigerator. Just like other hotels, wi-fi access is free and available.
There was this holiday plate of Welcome Dessert in our room that was really appetizing to eat.
The night before December 23, I had prepared and cooked two dishes for our viand the next day as we planned to have our lunch at the hotel. I prepared the all-time favorite recipe of our mother which is the Shrimp in Tomato Sauce and Pork Steak with White Onions. We brought these freshly-prepared viands in the hotel when we checked in. At around 5pm after we have successfully checked in, my sister and her son arrived at the hotel. It was the usual holiday traffic that’s why they arrived quite late already. Nevertheless, the most important is that we are complete in celebrating the Christmas this year.
On the first day of our hotel staycation, there are lots of stories to tell. We chitchat the whole hours while all our kids are getting along and playing around. From the stories we have, it seems we have missed each other a lot and the bond would still be there no matter what. After the long chitchat, we had dinner, watched some movies and slept late already. The kids had also slept late because of tiredness of playing around and giggling much.
The next morning December 24, the buffet breakfast was festive. The selection of food was great especially the pastries and sweets sections. My siblings and their kids had really enjoyed the breakfast. My niece Iyah had enjoyed the various breads and desserts on the bar, and had customized her own pancake breakfast.
Around lunch time, my sister and I went to the grocery store for Noche Buena preparation. It’s just across the hotel at Podium Mall, the SM Marketplace at the Ground Floor Level. We just agreed to prepare 3 dishes for the celebration since we are just few in number plus the kids do not each that much yet. Though we have invited our maternal cousins, titos, and titas to come as well in the hotel to celebrate Noche Buena with us. We just stayed inside the hotel the whole day as we enjoy the bonding, story-telling, and movie-watching. The kids are enjoying as well with all their running and playing. As early as 8pm me and my sister are already preparing for the Noche Buena since some of our maternal relatives are coming in the hotel to celebrate with us and give gifts to the kids.
We made the couch of the hotel as the official photo booth or back draft for all our holiday photos. The Noche Buena celebration that we had was very intimate and fun. Though small in number, we still had the same and happy celebration. Family will always be the most important essence of Christmas season for me though some may not be able to make it to come. We all ended the night with smiles and memories to remember for this year’s Christmas. I’m sure the kids had been very happy with the gifts and foods.
On the morning of December 25, my siblings and the kids went to the Podium Mall for a stroll. The mall is just adjacent across our hotel so it’s just walking distance. Inside the mall, there’s a choir performing at the entrance. Then there is also Santa Claus on her chair where kids can take a photo with him. The kids were thrilled in seeing Santa Claus in person.
As we stroll inside the mall, the kids got hungry. We tried looking for dining area that serves light snacks. Since we came from a Noche Buena feast that night, we don’t want to eat much this time. It seems we just want to eat salad or sandwiches only. However, before we can find a dining area for snacks, the kiosk of Dippin’ Dots Ice Cream had caught the attention of the kids. From the sitting areas beside the kiosk, we just settled there as they finished the cups of Dippin’ Dots Ice Cream that we bought for them. The flavors we had was Bubble Gum and Cookies & Cream.
After the strolling, we went down to the SM Marketplace, located at the Ground Floor of the Podium Mall. We just bought some snacks at the food counters and bring it inside the hotel instead. Since the kids are quite grumpy and complaining already. Kids will always be kids :)
When we got back to the hotel that afternoon, we started packing our things already. This is the saddest part of the celebration. It will take us months and sometimes years before we see each other again and bond. Since we all have different lives already and located afar from each other, seldom are the times we see each other. We just see updates in our lives thru Facebook and Instagram.
I’m looking forward in having this celebration as a yearly thing for us. In this way, we get to bond and see each other at least once a year. If I can make twice a year, I’ll do it. However, due to some limitations, I cannot guarantee the twice year. But at least, for the most important celebration or season of the year, we get to see each other again. That’s the most precious. Christmas is family and family is Christmas. It will always be that way. I just hope that time will come I can bring all of them in a local or out of country travel. That’s my ultimate dream for them right now. I want them to experience things like I do. If given the chance and money, I would want to be with them on different travels.
We checked out from Discovery Suites Ortigas on December 26 at around 11AM. We need to go early again this time to avoid the long queue of checking out. After checking out, we’ve had some final photo shots inside the hotel and outside the hotel while waiting for our Grab rides. It’s been a fun-filled and memorable experience for us especially for the kids. I’m sure they made memories on this experience. Looking forward for another get together for next year’s Christmas season! I’ll try to keep this as a regular event for us every year :)
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Discovery Suites Manila, Philippines
Address: 25 ADB Ave, Ortigas Center, Pasig, 1600 Metro Manila
Phone: (02) 719 8888
The Podium
Address: 18 ADB Ave, Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong, 1550 Metro Manila
Hours: Open ⋅ Closes 10PM
Phone: (02) 638 9781
No. of floors: Phase 1: 5 + basement; Phase 2: 6 + basement; Carpark: 6 basement levels (from LG/B1 to B6)
Developer: Keppel Land; SM Prime Holdings
Dippin' Dots
Address: The Podium, 12 ADV Avenue, Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong, 1550 Metro Manila
Phone: (02) 511 1387
Noteworthy Store
Address: 3rd Floor, The Podium Mall, 18 ADB Ave, Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong, 1550 Metro Manila