My Family

My family consists of my mother, father and younger sister. My parents are both from Naic, Cavite, they lived and grew up there. I am five year older than my younger sister. My sister and all my younger cousins use to call their older brothers 'uya', a toddler term for kuya. My mother has four alive siblings while my father has nine. We usually call our uncles and aunties as 'ate' and 'kuya' maybe because that's what our parents taught us. My family use to live with my father's relatives. We are living in one compound in which the lot where our houses are erected is inherited from my great grandparents. Eventhough we are only two, (me and my sister), we are still like a one big family because of the presence of my cousins, my father's siblings usually have two or three children.

My Christmas in Cavite

How can one recall the days of his/her childhood during December? Indeed, December is the merriest of all months, in Naic, Cavite, we have 3 celebrations; The feast of the Immaculate Conception, Christmas day, and New Year's day (though celebrated every January 1, we consider it December 31).

Of course, for us, Christmas is the most important occasion of the year. It is also the time when I wait for presents from Santa Claus. On the Christmas eve, we go to the church and eat the most awaited Noche Buena. Ham, bread, thick chicken noodles, cheese, desserts, rice and Filipino dishes usually fill our round table, of course with best utensils and plates. After we eat, my mother used to tell me to hang my biggest sock near the window so that Santa Claus can easily see it. If it is so, he can put many gifts (especially candies and chocolates) inside my socks. The next morning, the sock is filled with candies and chocolates and is it the very first thing that my eyes catch. Not knowing that it is only my parents who put those presents in my socks.

Parents are Christmas. The existence of our parents is the reason why we have the meaning Christmas celebration. Regardless of the month and date of Christmas celebration, we have to be grateful to God and to the set of parents who took part of starting Christmas.