Christmas Dinner was at Jojo's place this year. With Melissa deciding to settle in Manila to try her luck at the soon-to-open Philippine Women's Basketball League, to Tita Lulu and her crazy brother Vince's flight from LA to support her decision, everything was extra special. (Nope, nothing was said about 'just' getting a bronze at the SEA games!)
The kids, of course, couldn't keep from getting all excited about their Christmas presents. Anton and Julian hounded their Tito Jojo for clues for what they were getting...
They eventually wore him down and ripped their presents open to find identical remote control car sets.
Joaquin, of course got one for himself too.
Andrew had to be held through the test drives, otherwise, our "little man" would have gotten his way and stomped on the itty-bitty cars of the "kuyas".
The men chose to do "unplugged" performances, lest be labelled uncool (ha!) while Mica chose to hang out with the lolos...
...hmmm, I just realized I had no pictures of Naizz, Tito Rene and Erwin! (I owe you!)
The women, on the other hand, pushed the baduy notch to a higher level.
After all, what Pinoy party would be complete without videoke of the cheesiest songs of whatever age??? So what the fook? We had fun! From Mommy, Tita Lulu and Tita Ditas' "Knock Three Times" and "Top of the World Numbers", my Swing Out Sister routine with Maan and Michelle, Melissa's "Emotion" to Vince's crazy mime dances...
Jojo with Christmas jester Vince (L), Erwin (middle).
Yikes. Johnny Walker Blue and Tito Jojo don't mix too well in this pic. Bwahaha!
Julian had extra fun upon finding out that he made it to Santas 'nice' list after all. Here he is with his brand new remote controlled chopper ;-)
Friday morning, Mom, Dad and I went to Maria Montessori to watch Julian take part in the school Christmas pageant, his first in his new school.
The A. Mabini class prepping right outside the auditorium while the stage parents' clicked away to their delight. (L-R) Sofia (Gonzalez), Marga (de la Cruz), Ivy (Pistis), Vince (Inciong), Obi (Pistis), Bianca (Magdaluyo), Julian and Sofia (Yulo).
Here he is again with very pretty Sofia (Yulo)...
...and partner-in-crime, Diego (Santos)...
...and class adviser, Teacher Mitchie Dalusong.
While I played the stage mother, Papa and Mamita waited for the program to begin.
"Pasko ng Pamilyang Pilipino" was the Program Directress' idea of a holiday season theme. This, in itself was wonderful but having every single word of the Christmas pageant delivered in romantic and traditional Filipino??? Hmmm. Not that practical, really. Poor anchors were sweatin' through it all!
Julian singing "Himig Pasko" was cool just the same. Seeing him signing out the song was a treat. Here he is with (L-R) Digo, Vince, Jaime (Irasga), Stephen and Thomas.
Julian's extra-curricular activities, with the exception of piano (which he says often bores him), are turning out to be good choices. Or is it that I'm simply in love with seeing him in uniform?
Watch my little TaeKwonDo baby's moves "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"
Notice how in between some kicks he tries to get rid of a few slightly nasty wedgies??? Bwahaha!!! Later he told me that his butt was biting into his briefs with every kick. I love it!
I loooove school fairs. From jail to marriage booths to cotton candy, snowcones and hotdogs. So when Julian asked me to go to Montessori bright and early this weekend, I said yes right away. Papa joined us and ended up carrying shopping bags for me! No, I was smart enough not to splurge. Just took advantage of this bargain corner selling Christmas decor export overruns. I got myself some neat stuff for the house.
The petting zoo was pretty cool. I liked watching Julian slowly gaining confidence with the animals. You see him here, pretty apprehensive about the albino python at first, only to later serve as the mini-zoo's resident tour guide with classmate Chalu and the others who came in a little bit later.
See the initial tension on his face over here? Hahaha! Couldn't you tell he was a tad bit nervous? Why even the turtle made him a bit edgy.
And wouldn't you know it, for the very first time, a monkey that neither spit nor threw stuff at the visitors.
Yup, in no time, Julian and his cute classmate Chalu here, found a friend in the little monkey!
The official photographer took one really cool picture with this snake almost draped over Julian's shoulders. I'd scan and post it here but realize I've got more than enough to show how he had a blast this day. At one point, he even said, "I wan't to be Steve Irwin!" To which a friend joking replied, "...you wanna be dead???"
Ha! Tentative today, crocodile hunter tomorrow!
But you could immediately tell Julian was interested in the iguana. He kept asking if this was the same kind of reptile that had a radioactive blast turning it into Godzilla!
At one time, Julian even had one cockatoo poop on his head. He had been so busy lifting the belly of the python off a pup that it nearly crushed. "Eeww, cockatoo poo!"
I wish I could say he was just as excited to meet with Santa. The poor old man came in second to the highly-popular python. Here's Mr. Claus with my little Steve Irwin.
And then back again, this time to make friends with puppies and to try to referring bickering hens, a crazy turkey and the noisiest geese...
By noon, Julian was begging to buy one pet to take home. Thank goodness he decided he wanted the colored chicks instead of white mice! Here he is choosing his new friend, which he named "Chicky Bass"! Har har har!
