Happy New Year everyone. May you welcome this year with good health and happiness.
I will be sharing with you how our family celebrated a night before the new year arrived and the happiness we had on New Year's Day.
Our family always throws a New Year's Eve party and all members of my mother's side from the youngest to the oldest will be present. We belong to an extended family to what our culture is like. We have our family meetings in November to prepare everyone for that special day. We usually have Manito Manita where we pick up names of family members who will attend and give them their wish list gifts.
Our simple foods
Game starter
Then we will have to bring food to the venue which is in our ancestral house. We will bring one dessert and a viand. Anything will be done without being pressured. We ate together and enjoyed the food prepared. In this time we also packed gifts for one another even just simple gifts. Those who have big pockets give expensive gifts.
Some raffles
Some gifts
We even have games also to make the night more exciting. And of course, there will be prizes and surprises as they come to an end. There are also raffles for everyone. After the sharing, we did our Manito Manita and all together opened our gifts.
The night was not done yet we were singing and jamming together. Laughter filled the air as we welcomed the new year with joy and togetherness.
We took a rest as we spent the night in our own houses.
First game
Preparing for Manito Manita
another game
By the morning everyone decided to go to the beach and continue the celebration. The food that night was heated and brought to the beach. We also bought fish and pork to be grilled.
at the beach
Our family loves to eat, we spent the day sitting on the bench talking about life and its goodness while the kids were swimming at the beach. Others take some naps on the sand with the fresh air. A lot of people were coming to celebrate also with their families.
eating time
Snack time
Food on our table
You can see we Filipinos are family-oriented. Almost all the members were together just to spend lunch at the beach and then take a dip in the water and then go home. Some were playing volleyball and some were having a good time singing at the video bar.
You can see the spirit of togetherness with other families around us. Some just got from work and attended the beach gatherings.
It was indeed a fun-filled bonding for all of us cause the next day would be the start of a full year of hard work again.
2023 has gone and another year begins. Good thing we ended up still in good shape and a food on our table. Let us not forget the goodness of God last year mostly the things we learn from the hard times we face. May it bring us closer to the people we love and to the ones who need us. May we be a shoulder to lean on when someone is needed? This year will be full of abundant blessings, learnings, and answered prayers.
Hoping you are one of the blessings to others' lives this year.
Thank you for always supporting my blog, may this year be a good start to support one another. Have a great year ahead.