To quote a certain book, "the baby Jesus' birthday" found me on the balcony of my Grandmother's house watching the city burst into fireworks. Of course, the whole baby Jesus thing is figurative; he must be pretty old right now. I also hear December 25 wasn't even his real birthday, but that's a whole other irrelevant piece of trivia.

Anyway, the fireworks display was pretty good. But then, it always is since my Grandmother's house is on a hill overlooking the city. Not to mention I'm always surrounded by my cousins, some of the closest friends I've ever had.

I always feel really blessed when Christmas rolls around. For one thing, I get to be with both my paternal and maternal sides of the family (about 70-130 people depending on who's around). I get to enjoy the riot induced by screaming and excited children who get to run around all night while their parents have cups of coffee in the kitchen. I get to watch my cousins and nephews --- no nieces just yet --- get all googly-eyed over how perfect the gifts we gave them are. It was worth every shopping trip, and every headache over what each kid would want without him knowing he'd want it.

I know there'll be times in the future when I won't be with them for Christmas, so I'm milking these moments for all they're worth.

Times will also change; people get old. My cousins joke that we'll stop screaming one day, and our children will do it instead.

I am just so glad to have the family I have right now. I love every one of them, and it's so great to have everyone home for Christmas.

And like I've mentioned, it is "the baby Jesus' birthday". It's amazing to remember how he morphed from Almighty God to Squirming Baby just for us. Talk about doing pretty crazy things for love.

The fireworks are still going off outside, but I think I'll just drop off now.

I'm spending Christmas day with my large family at the beach. Then we'll be heading to church in the evening. This is the country with snow-less Christmases after all.

Goodnight, everyone. And a very merry Christmas.

Note: The Europe posts will continue after this post.

To quote a certain book, "the baby Jesus' birthday" found me on the balcony of my Grandmother's house watching the city burst into fireworks. Of course, the whole baby Jesus thing is figurative; he must be pretty old right now. I also hear December 25 wasn't even his real birthday, but that's a whole other irrelevant piece of trivia.

Anyway, the fireworks display was pretty good. But then, it always is since my Grandmother's house is on a hill overlooking the city. Not to mention I'm always surrounded by my cousins, some of the closest friends I've ever had.

I always feel really blessed when Christmas rolls around. For one thing, I get to be with both my paternal and maternal sides of the family (about 70-130 people depending on who's around). I get to enjoy the riot induced by screaming and excited children who get to run around all night while their parents have cups of coffee in the kitchen. I get to watch my cousins and nephews --- no nieces just yet --- get all googly-eyed over how perfect the gifts we gave them are. It was worth every shopping trip, and every headache over what each kid would want without him knowing he'd want it.

I know there'll be times in the future when I won't be with them for Christmas, so I'm milking these moments for all they're worth.

Times will also change; people get old. My cousins joke that we'll stop screaming one day, and our children will do it instead.

I am just so glad to have the family I have right now. I love every one of them, and it's so great to have everyone home for Christmas.

And like I've mentioned, it is "the baby Jesus' birthday". It's amazing to remember how he morphed from Almighty God to Squirming Baby just for us. Talk about doing pretty crazy things for love.

The fireworks are still going off outside, but I think I'll just drop off now.

I'm spending Christmas day with my large family at the beach. Then we'll be heading to church in the evening. This is the country with snow-less Christmases after all.

Goodnight, everyone. And a very merry Christmas.

Note: The Europe posts will continue after this post.