One of the things that we particularly miss pre-December 25 in the Philippines are the company Christmas parties. For some reasons, I especially miss the hat and oriental themed parties that I went to years ago. Hence, my friends-colleagues-former officemates (since I already transferred to a new organization last month) held our own, with a whirlwind preparation. With few exchange of emails in a “you bring this and that” style, we went to one of the parks to kick off the Christmas celebration. I volunteered to bring pancit, lumpiang shanghai, puto, pichi-pichi and cassava cake. Hep, don’t be amazed. I asked somebody else to cook those. 😉 We also had the well-loved sisig, crispy pata and turbo boiled chicken.
We also exchanged gifts. I got two books (Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics) which are actually on my wish list. Really, I am thankful that even if we are in a Muslim country, we can openly celebrate Christmas. To the extent that the current surrounds will make you feel you’re in the Philippines, plus the simbang gabi minus the puto bumbong.
We chatted about random things, took a lot of photos. We ended the “party” by feeling the sunset and the (now) much colder breeze from the seaside which is steps away from the park.
