Thank you 2011

It's been a week. Hometown for the holidays.

Today is the last day of 2011. And what else can I say? Cheers to the past, they make us stronger. Looking forward to the future, it's where hope and dreams reside.

On the 25th, we went to Cotabato for Christmas. I was tired from all the red bags I carried all the way from our office building to Shangrila Mall (that's more than a kilometer) two days back. To give you a brief background, red bags is a CSR program of First Gen which aims to give out Noche Buena for Christmas to the needy and less fortunate. This year, we packed and distributed more than 1,600 bags which contain 1kg spaghetti pasta, sauce, 4 canned goods, cheese, and 2 kilos of rice. Now I gather each bag would mean 6kg approx. I carried 2 for more than a km since I could not find anyone I wanted to give the red bags to. Outcome: a very tired me.

First thing I did when I arrived in Davao last Saturday was to find a good massage place. Then next day, it was countered by a 6-hour bumpy ride to Cotabato. Anyway, we stayed there overnight. Returned to Davao on the 26th.

For the past 4 years, it's been a tradition to shop with my nephew who happened to be my godson (he's 8 now). This year's Christmas and birthday and all this year's celebration gift all rolled into one was a High Sierra bag.

Per goofy

3 of my 50+ pamangkins

More pamangkins. :)

Ang cute ng kambal! And si Blue!

Met with Lesele and shopped. Geez. I can't believe how incredibly inexpensive everything is! Trinkets worth 300 Php in Manila are just 70 bucks here! Dresses worth 2,000 in Manila are but a mere 599 Php here.

Then met other high school buddies. Was drunk a little too soon. Kids, 5 bottles in 3 hours is not good for your health. Hahaha.

The next day, nursing a slight headache, we shopped some more for Chabs' dress. It's pretty tiring taking a picture and looking for wifi afterwards to send it. (One disadvantage, seldom you see establishments here with wifi.) I had to ask my sister to model the dresses for her. It was fortunate we saw our aunt and cousin on the way to dinner. We tried Lyndon's World's Worst Ribs and Awful Chicken. First time to try it. (Ako na ang hindi taga-Davao! haha)

Mommy, PK, Honey, KC

Friday, Lesele, Ning and I went to Love the Children Foundation, Inc to give some gifts. I'll write more about this next year. Ha. Tomorrow is next year! :)

Ang Donya Lesele

The kids. Muka lang kaming one of them. :)

That afternoon, my cousins and I went to D'Leonor Inland Resort. It opened this year and offers wavepool, raging rivers, ziplines, and more. I'll write more of that next year. :)

Honey and Kate and Ice Giant

How time flies. Another year has ended. Another chapter closed. It's time to move on. Happier times await! I'm looking forward to 2012. With glee, cheers 2011!