Sunday Summaries | January 5, 2014

Another New Year edition. I just got done reading my 2013 one and cannot believe I wrote that a year ago. This year’s New Years Eve celebration was similar to last years but this year my cousin came from Dubai and got to spend the holidays with us. He hasn’t spent a New Years with us for four years so it was pretty special plus his new wife and baby also came and it was fun having a baby during the holidays.The first picture was right above our house while we were on the balcony and second is half the table of the feast we had. I unfortunately don’t have any pictures of me as I was the one taking pictures but I think my dad has some on his phone and video of the evening.

We usually start our family festivities around 7 and do karaoke, turn up our sound system and bring out the alcohol. I didn’t drink this year as I wasn’t a fan of the alcohol beverages my cousin served. My uncle and aunts then finish cooking the food and we have a quick snack around 8 so after midnight we can official eat the food.

When midnight struck both my male cousins set off fireworks right in front of our house but there a 50 million going off around us so you can’t really pay attention to it all. The neighbor own the street set of huge ones and we were all in the street and when it went off the whole family squeezed inside our gate to escape. It was quite funny since I ws the first one to get out of there. We blow horns and light candles and set off fireworks and scream Happy New Year in the streets. Every year I get Deja Vu like I have done this before and sure enough Ive done it 5 years in a row. My parents and my mom’s family through coins in the street and the neighborhood kids caught it. It is a tradition also and of course I joined in and got a hefty amount plus my dad was giving out money bills instead of coins so I lined up their too. The baby pretty much slept through all of it but woke up when it was dinner. I cant believe he did as it was super loud everywhere and no matter what part f the house you could still here bangs. M poor dogs every year suffer but we keep them locked in the house with everything they need for the night but I still feel terrible but they get so much holiday food the next day so it makes up for it a little.

The food is always a feast at our house and we end up having too much for the next week. We eat and stay up until maybe 4 and then clean up the mess we made. After midnight I sat up the tripod and put it on a tier so we can have a group photo since it was the first time we were all complete and together again and me being the photographer of the family I was in charge of taking pictures of everything. The funniest part was I either had it too far away or cut the heads off and we went through about 20 takes to get a semi-decent one. Everyone was getting tired so I couldn’t get the perfect shot but got some pretty close ones. it is funny to see the outtakes and me running from the camera to the picture in less than 10 seconds. I got pictures of the food, the fireworks and mostly the celebration and even snuck in some sneaky shots of my relatives eating. Now those I will remember and cherish.

If you ever get a chance to have a New Years in the Philippines do it. The people love to celebrate and everywhere you will see fireworks, food and music blaring in the streets. It is a big occasion here and every year it gets better and better. Since moving here all my New Years have been full of excitement and non-stop fun. It is kind of like an all day street festival where everyone is making noise. It is their tradition that you should bring in the new year with a lot of noise and a lot of light so that the bad luck will not enter and also to have round fruit on the table to bring money and good fortune to your home. I don’t really believe but i just go along with it because what can hurt.

I had a lovely New Years with my family and would love to read this a year from now and see what I am doing. Whenever I do these kinds of posts they are like a recap of the day and a diary I can look back on in case I forget a certain detail It is kind of like a letter to my future self of my past self did. I wonder what next years will be and what certain events will happen. I hope you enjoyed my summary of my New Years Eve and got to enjoy yours.

What tradition do you have on NYE?