Catching up with the two's and five's and one's of 2015: 12

The eleventh twelfth month of the year (and the first month ostensibly so) is really the busiest.

At work, we had a little too much fun (and effort) decorating our office for the Christmas decor contest in the Department. It was funny how the mechanics called for only recycled materials to be used, but we spent some thousands painting and putting all of them together. Haha. The Department Christmas party, my second (since the supposed first one was cancelled in light of the disaster wrought by Typhoon Yolanda), is the last one with the same group of senior leaders. Our bosses, and maybe the way Christmas parties are held, will be different come 2016. Our office also participated in a fellowship where, as was last Halloween, we presented a "number." Despite winning just the second place, I can definitely say we all enjoyed preparing for it. The Department also had a special free screening of Heneral Luna for the employees, which I think was a really good holiday treat for everyone who watched.

Aside from the Christmas parties at work, I also accompanied Gabriel to the Christmas dinners and get-togethers he had for his work and friends. It was really nice to be able to meet (and interact and play games with and exchange gifts with and enjoy the company of) Gabriel's colleagues and friends.

For 2015, our relatives on my father's side had an impromptu Christmas reunion. Originally, our family would just be visiting our grandmother in Marikina. But the rest of the company showed up as well, and we had food delivered. The pamangkins (excluding the working ones huhuhu :))) got their aguinaldo, and the tito's and the tita's caught up on the tsikas. I almost didn't join the folks for the visit, wanting to just stay at home. I'm glad I did, considering that one of my tito's and his family would be migrating to the US early this 2016.

Our high school barkada, meanwhile, took advantage of Gabriel's hospitality and held our year-end get-together at his house. Haha. There we played games, and played games, and stuffed our faces with food. We called up Gellie in Japan and had her update us on her life abroad. She's getting married this year! We had a blast over our Secret Santa gifts, and since it was the eve of Claire's birthday, we got her a cake and some bullying. :)) It was fun, even if we weren't complete. I guess it will still be a long time before we ever get complete again. But I am grateful, as always, for another year of friendship with the most fun and wonderful people I ever had the opportunity to meet.

For the New Year (I'm including it here, since it's part of the Holiday hullabaloo), we had our traditional annual reunion on my mother's side. It's amazing how the tradition is being upheld for as long as I can remember. We had lots of food (and amazing cakes, man) and laughter and chatter. Because many of the "kids" from way back when are now adults earning their keep, it was fun how us cousins were giving aguinaldo to our fellow cousins. It was a riot, as always, and I wouldn't trade the rowdiness of our reunions every New Year's Day for anything.

It was also this December that Gabriel and I celebrated the first anniversary of our "official" relationship. But more on that on a separate post. :))