Still Out of Breath From Pre-Christmas Week!

Wow I haven’t blogged in, like, forever!

Believe me when I say I haven’t had a single minute of “freedom” last week although it was certainly a blast! Even poor Yuri felt the exhaustion of the week as he slept until 9:30 this morning. And I had to wake him up because I was running out of laptop juice and my charger was left downstairs!

Here is how last week went:

Monday

Practice for our village carolling. We (village officers, youth officers + anyone who wants to join) always sing carols here in our neighbourhood to raise money for our annual Christmas party. We always look forward to joining because it’s so much fun! It’s even more fun this year because the youth officers this year are very kalog and the energy levels are sky-high.

Some of the officers (little boy excluded) #teamRED

Tuesday

First day of carolling! I prepared and arranged the songs to be sung. Then Yuri and I rushed to a nearby department store to buy some gifts. We got home just in time to eat dinner and get ready to sing some Christmas songs and bring some Christmas cheer (chos).

Wednesday

We skipped carolling that night because Mama, Yuri, and I attended Robinsons Homes’ Christmas party #realestatebrokerlife. We learned they also altogether cancelled the carolling because it was raining.

Atm #selfie because I’m #hungry hehe

I look like I have blonde highlights here because of the lighting, and I think it looks really pretty! Maganda raw magpaparlor ngayon kasi masaya ang mga parlorista hehe.

Thursday

Second day of carolling! In between, I ordered last minute gifts. (As of now, I still need to buy a few more! Wah!)

No tag, no problem!

Friday

We were supposed to attend another Christmas party, this time by Santos Land Development Corporation. However, we decided not to go because the weather was looking bad (Typhoon Onyok was about to make its landfall in Davao Oriental that night). We decided to just join the carolling while it was not yet raining (it rained later that night at around 10 pm) and I was a little glad I still had time to pack my things for my weekend getaway.

Rain rain go away!

Oh I think I haven’t told you about that one yet! My friends from work and I organised another weekend getaway, this time in the mountains (the last time was in a beach in Samal Island).

We got home at around 9:30 that night (we were able to raise P15,000 from three nights of carolling) and after putting Yuri to bed, I started packing my things. For the first time, I don’t even have a packing list before a trip! It was a really hectic week for me (all those things plus work — it’s always hectic before Christmas week — and emergency shopping trips and wrapping gifts made time an expensive luxury for me). Thank goodness Yuri slept soundly and allowed me to pack my bag at the last minute!

Saturday

If I can describe this trip in one word, it would be challenging. For starters, there’s a storm and it’s going to make a landfall here in Mindanao! And we’re going up to the mountains of all places. But none of us wanted to cancel the trip because all of our schedules are already jam-packed. Also, Lenz has already arrived from an 8-hour trip from Cagayan de Oro and nakakahiya naman sa kanya hahaha (#insidejoke).

So while I was packing my things at midnight (I was supposed to go at 6 am!), I was also constantly checking updates from Pagasa. Thank God they post updates very often. At maybe around 1 am, I read the update that the typhoon weakened further into a low pressure area! Thank you Lord! Although it was still raining, I was confident enough that we will be blessed with a pleasant weather.

Haven’t worn an outfit like this since forever. Bye Onyok! #ootd

The road to Buda. Almost zero visibility thanks to the combination of fog and rain

I will not talk about the trip in full detail here (it deserves a full post!), but let me just say that it’s challenge after challenge after challenge! With that said, I had sooo much fun and am super thankful we went.

Sunday

We got home from the trip at around 2 am (I was still tired and sore) but I still had to prepare for, guess what, the village Christmas party this time. By the way, that was the first time I was away from Yuri overnight, but he didn’t even notice me when I got home. He did meet me at the gate but only to tell me that he’s going with his Iya (grandma) to the nearby grocery. Err okay!

After napping and taking a shower, it was time to go to the party. For the first time, I was able to join the games because Yuri was no longer afraid of loud music and, therefore, free to run and play. He just sat with the other kids (for the first time) and ate with them (for the first time). So this is how it feels to have fun in a party hahaha!

That was the gist of my week last week. And what a whirlwind week it has been and I had the time of my life! I was (am) also discovering a new Yuri right in front of my eyes. And nothing beats the feeling of Christmas spirit everywhere. Merry Christmas everyone! How was your week?

PS: Did you watch Miss Universe this morning? I watch it every year and this one is one for the books. Congratulations, Pia!

PPS: Sorry for my hair in the featured image. We just got out of a 3-hour bus ride!