Nothing beats the Christmas celebration in the Philippines.
Without exaggeration when the calendar hits “……ber”, every stores and shopping malls would start displaying Christmas decors. Â Kids will be talking about Christmas parties and gifts. Â Lanterns and Christmas lights will be all over the place. Mothers will start planning for the “noche buena”. Â There is not a single corner in the Philippines which will not remind you of the festivity, not a single one. Â Everywhere, even in the remotest, poorest areas, there will always be something, it may be little and simple, to celebrate Christmas.
My family have been overseas for almost 8 years now, we are missing all these.  Here in Thailand, is a different story.  As a Buddhist country,they do not celebrate Christmas.  December 25 is an ordinary day, hence a working day.  It is  good enough if your employer understands Christmas, and declares this day a special holiday for the Christians, but only for a day.  If they don’t, then you will be working on Christmas day.  Stores sell Christmas decors by December, though.  They associate these with New Year.
Noche buena? Â I do not know if we are going to have one. Â The neighbors will be all fast asleep by then. Â We don’t want to wake them up. We could probably just have a bit of a special dinner. Well, not really the kind of special we would have back home, just the more-than-the-usual kind of thing. They don’t sell all-purpose cream or whip cream here, and the cheese is insanely expensive. Â These are two very important ingredients for my-kind-of-special-Christmas food, hmmmmm… fruit salad and spaghetti. Anyway….
This Christmas just like the past seven Christmases, we put up our Christmas tree and decorated it. Â The only difference though, is that the kids are bigger and they already are able to express their appreciation. Â So when we decided to put up the Christmas tree the other day, they were all yeheeeyss!!!! Â Summer and Derick helped. Â They even got more excited when we turned on the Christmas lights. Despite of the “absence” of Christmas, we still keep this tradition alive just to give the kids a feel of the Christmas spirit.
This is Christmas for us. This is Christmas away from home.
We wish everyone a happy Christmas and a bountiful 2014.
For the victims of Yolanda, our prayers are with you.
You might also like
Sending you some Christmas cheer from Manila! Our family really takes the holidays seriously, so I’d imagine we’d be a bit lonely if we didn’t get to celebrate it the way we usually do back home. But I’m sure that the season will be special and meaningful for you guys either way coz you’re all together as a family. 🙂
I hope you’ll be able to celebrate Christmas here soon. I love your Christmas tree!
I don’t think I have ever spent Christmas outside our country. But now I see why my brother always makes it a point to bring his family over here (from where he works abroad) to spend with our parents and my family. It is really different spending the happiest time of the year here, and with the whole family.
I also got a lot of friends who keeps on posting that they will be celebrating Christmas away from home. Iba talaga ang Paskong Pinoy.
Very touching. We have never experienced Christmas Away from home before.
You are very lucky. This is experienced mostly by expats like us. Thank you for dropping by
I’m torn whether where I like celebrating Christmas better. It’s between being here in Manila where we can do whatever we like, or in the US surrounded by my sisters and family and friends. Something about the cold weather, the possibility of a white Christmas, and visiting New York City during the holidays that makes me happy. And we still get to do our traditions like Noche Buena there too!
The solution is quite easy I guess, follow the one that will give you and your family joy this holidays.
Not celebrating the usual Pinoy Christmas celebration for those away from home is understandable, but what if you are here in Pinas and yet you decided not to have a feastful Christnmas. Hyaz…
Well, at least you still celebrate Christmas with your family. Don’t ever stop that 🙂
I agree, the important thing is, my family is together.
Christmas is a very festive season in the Philippines so you will really miss being here but what is more important now is that you are spending your Christmas with your family and that what makes it more memorable. Enjoy the season.
Nothing beats Christmas in the Philippines but it’s great that you and your family are still able to find ways to celebrate it there. Hope you’ll get to enjoy it! 🙂
Thank you Janice. Filipinos are very adaptive. We’ve adjusted to this situation.
Got me thinking….Since I converted to the INC, I no longer celebrate Xmas (it’s one of our doctrines). Oddly, I don’t miss the Xmas traditions. I just enjoy the cold. Haha.
The cold weather is definitely something that we all love in the tropics during this time. Thanks for dropping by
For me, it doesn’t matter where you celebrate Christmas the more important thing is the people you are with wherever you celebrate Christmas.
booked and fly back to the philippines once in a while 🙂
Oh gosh we would love to, if only the air fare is that affordable. thanks for dropping by
It’s nice that even if it’s dinner in place of noche buena, a part of the Christmas tradition lives on even away from home.
Christmas here in our country is indeed different.. long celebrations.. and people are just kinder during the ber months 🙂
I hope you and your family will have a merry Christmas even though you are not here in the Philippines.
and I hope you will be able to spend Christmas here in country soon 🙂
We have celebrated Christmas once when we were in Thailand. And yes, nobody we know feasts for Christmas there so our lesson learned was to not spend Christmas in a country that’s not celebrating the birth of Jesus.
looks beautiful…… 😀
For as long as you are celebrating it with the kids, I guess it would still mean so much even away from home. They are the happiest during this season. Merry Christmas to you and your family! 🙂
I totally agree Florence. This season is really for the kids and for the kids at heart. thank you for dropping by. Have a Merry and Safe Christmas to you and your family too.
I always think of Christmas as the holiday for kids, because they are the most happy. 🙂 Fruit salad and spaghetti will always do the trick and eventhough you are far away from home, I’m sure that Christmas will be in your hearts and spirit. 🙂
Christmas is necessarily about everything you can have to celebrate and decorate with it’s about who you share it with
True, Christmas decorations are meaningless without your loved ones to share these with.
I traveled a lot as a kid around Christmas because we have family everywhere and my family still set up the Christmas tree at home, even if we weren’t going to be there on Christmas day and I think it’s great they did that for us and will do the same for my kids =)
It’s good that you’re still celebrating Christmas despite being in a place that doesn’t celebrate it. I’m sure your kids are extremely grateful and happy that you are keeping this tradition alive. 🙂 Merry Christmas to your family!