A Bittersweet Christmas

Don’t get me wrong. My Christmas was wonderful, however, at the same time, quite bittersweet.

When I got home from work mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve (I had half-day, which was good), I was really pumped up for Midnight Mass choir, simply because I had enough sleep (and more sleep on my 45-minute train commute) and that there were a lot of good people arriving at the same time. Early night we went to my uncle’s house for our Christmas party. Because it was close to the church we thought it was a good idea to hold the party at his house so that we can just drive straight to church for Midnight Mass later. We played games, talked about life, and even talked about a good friend and fellow choir member who was diagnosed with the killer liver cancer. Because liver cancer killed my cousin-in-law two years ago, I was already expecting that friend to die sometime this month, but at the same time I prayed it would be after Christmas. At least he would be able to spend his final Christmas with his family before he goes.

Afterward, when I arrived at the church to practice with the choir one last time before the mass, the first thing we received from our choir director was the update on our friend and fellow choir member. He passed away 5:00 pm that afternoon. Though we all expected for his death, none of us expected it would be before Christmas, which all in all became such a bittersweet moment. At first I knew I would not have a good Christmas due to his passing, however knowing him he would rather see us celebrating and be happy rather than spoiling our Christmas ourselves just because of his death.

All in all, we had a good Christmas. After mass we exchanged gifts and had our noche buena snacking complete with fresh and invigorating hot chocolate and hot tea (Mint Chocolate Rooibos Tea). We had the usual Filipino dessert, such as puto, kakanin, homemade espasol, and kuchinta. We also had baked ham from HoneyBaked, as well as chocolate porridge (champorado). The presents we gave (and received) from one another are really simple but still worth it. I received the following:

• dark brown coat (from the mother)
• Wii Fit Plus (from the brother)
• The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (3rd book of the Robert Langdon Series (Angels & Demons, The DaVinci Code)) (from the middle sister)
• white thermal underwear (from the youngest sister)
• A Macy’s Gift Card (from the aunt & uncle)
• a refurbished mp3 player (from the PCD friend (inside joke))
• a gold & beige ruffled scarf (from the SURF DUDE (inside joke))

… and many more that I’d rather not mention.

Dad brought the entire family (and friends) to see Avatar, as you can see with my movie review in the previous entry. It was a seriously awesome experience in XD 3D. Seriously awesome. Even until now I’m still in awe and wished I’d be able to watch it again.

The final week of the year: back to work again. Our choir member’s funeral is on Wednesday. I have a feeling that we may sing in the choir probably tomorrow or on the funeral this Wednesday. In fact, I don’t know if I should go or not. I’ve been to two funerals this entire year and this would be my third should I ever decide to go. Actually, half of me wants me to go, because after all, I knew the person who died personally. The other half didn’t want me to go simply because this year is worse enough for me to call the worst year ever in my life.

To be honest I don’t really believe in New Years’ Resolutions anymore, though I make my own resolutions in my head. The “resolutions” for 2010 is pretty obvious, considering my condition throughout the year 2009. I vow to myself that I will have a better year in 2010 because the entire 2000s decade is serious hell. No doubt.

Well, what can I say? May we have a fresh start on the upcoming new decade and pray that 2012 is not “the year of armaggedon” once we hit 2010.