Commemorating Our Clan's Year-End/Christmas Reunion (2022 Edition)
What's up? I'm sure some of you were recovering from being passed out drinking liquor or busy cleaning the aftermath of your Christmas celebration. I read a few blogs about your jolly Xmas and thought to write something like that. Before we get started, for those non-Catholics like me, I wish we had a merry holiday. Meanwhile, to those Christians who believe in Christmas, I hope you had a merry Christmas and a prosperous new year. We're not celebrating this event in our family. Still, we always ensure we will be present in my extended family's Christmas celebration.
At nine in the morning, our family opted to go to the residence of my grandparents. We were a bit late since they still bought pastries for the snacks, but better than never. My aunt from Singapore is the mastermind of all of these, and she won't be able to do it without the help of our other relatives. They prepared the food, decoration, sound system, and even the gifts and props used in the party.
Before the program began, we took endless pictures again. The left photo is us, while the right part is my home. We were not yet complete at that moment since our cousin arrived late. See you for more pictures in the succeeding paragraphs!
My aunt organized fun and entertaining games in these photos before eating lunch. They had fun on their trip to dance to TikTok hits, but I disregarded them because my dance moves were stiff. After that, we played the "Head, Shoulders, Knees, Gift" and "Pop Balloon with Legs." I wonder why the last game isn't filmed. I didn't understand the instruction for the last game, so I easily got eliminated.
Since we got hungry from the warm-up games, we decided to eat lunch. They served different meals from the meat of the goat, such as Adobo and Papaitan. "Papaitan" is a popular Ilocano dish made out of goat's flesh. Meanwhile, my aunt brought "Corndog," "Espasol," and "Barbeque" as additional meals. We also drank Coca-Cola, and I wondered about my kidney's current condition after drinking almost 2L of soft drinks.
Since our anticipated relatives were finally complete together with our other visitors, my aunt resumed the fun by hosting another game called "Balloon Centipede". It is a game where a group will be split into halves and must race as a team with a balloon in the middle. We chuckled a lot at this game since when it was already my uncle and aunt's turn, one of the other team members stumbled, which led them to a slight injury. It is one of the epic parts of the game that I will not forget.
After that hilarious game, she hosted a game called "TicTacToe Water Bottle Flip." It is not just your ordinary TicTac toe. Before selecting your bet, you need to stand the water bottle first. It is an easy instruction but complex concept that I didn't win. If you are curious about the prize of the games she organized, the rate is ₱20.00 or $0.36 per win. Not bad, right?
Pardon me for the low-quality photo. To make the party more interesting, one of my cousins poured all her coins, and we collected them until we couldn't see any. I only collected ₱80.00 from that game, but it is better than nothing.
We have four family picture versions, and here is the first set of versions I've mentioned. My aunt (the woman behind me on the left side) requested to take pictures for remembrance. I'm so happy that most of us are present, although my relatives from Singapore are absent since one of them couldn't go as she was pursuing her studies. If she were present, I'm certain it would be the happiest day of my life because we would visit different tourist destinations outside of Nueva Ecija.
Before their dancing session again, we also played the "Head, Shoulders, Knees, Gift". But this time, our late cousins from the party were included and finally had strong concentration. Who wouldn't think that I would win consecutively? It is my first time winning in their game, man.
As promised, here is the third and fourth version of our family picture. Our aunt gave us a foldable shade as her FIRST gift, and we took photos for fun. I can't believe that we look cool in the photo shoot. Anyway, some of the photos here are from myself and my aunt. These photos are sent on our GC, and we are free to use them.
Since the program was not over yet and we still needed to participate in fun events, my aunt prepared simple and delicious snacks. I'm not a fan of eating spaghetti and other pastries, so I only ate gulaman flan, puto, and drank a cup of Sprite. Nothing much special, but we already appreciated it.
I was not yet tired and eager to collect money, so I opted to participate more in their proposed games. The first game I joined after eating desserts was the "Balloon Stack Challenge." It was simple to do but a bit pressured because it is a race between pairs. Guess what? I won on the first try. We also played the "TicTacToe Water Bottle Flip" again, and good thing I won once.
My aunt ran out of ideas, so my other aunt came to the rescue with her fun game suggestions. The first game we tried was the "Paper Cup Race," a relay using two pieces of yarn and a paper cup. I want to provide a link about how it works, but I can't see it on the internet. And last but not least, we played the "Paper Plates Relay Game," a racing game where you need to hold your plates in your neck and thighs without falling. I struggled in that game because I was not athletic, but we still managed to win.
The year-end party will not be complete without receiving gifts and aguinaldo from our uncle and aunts. They are not mandatory to give, but it's already traced in our tradition. Honestly, I resented my mom since she didn't know how to fulfill her promise of giving me a commission by sending their TikTok videos. She also didn't give me her Christmas gift (including my sibling) because she reasoned that she was saving. They won ₱1,400 overall from the TikTok competition, and we're dedicated to assisting them in saving videos daily. Unfortunately, I received nothing. I only think that she did that for my father's medication. Therefore, I insisted on passing it out, although I felt betrayed.
Even though I still feel bad about what happened, I'm still glad I could collect these gifts from my relatives. Little appreciation still counts. Thank you for reading. See you in New Year in posting to this community. Happy holidays!
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