A fun-filled and meaningful holiday season

So it’s been a couple of weeks since the Christmas season concluded, and as is the case with most people, things get really hectic during this period. The same is true for me, what with all the parties and get-togethers and stuff. But the fact that the government declared a whole host of public holidays meant that I got to spend a lot of time with my family during this time. I also got to spend a very meaningful day in a home for the aged.

My friend Ginger invited me to this Christmas party she was organizing for ANAWIM, a home for the aged in Rizal. She knew I was into socio-civic activities because we talked before about Bukas Sarili and she made a donation to PGH during one of my previous marathons for a cause so she thought I might be interested to join. I had nothing planned that day so I decided I would go. Ginger hired some Dance Instructors to dance with the folks there. It was quite unfortunate that some of them had bad hips or bad knees and could no longer dance but everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun. We also had volunteers do some impromptu singing (yes, I was one of them). Food was served to everyone and once the program was over, we spent some time talking to the folks while Ginger and her relatives worked on printing the photos they took during the event (they brought a photo printer with them! I was impressed!) – that way we could leave actual (and not digital) photos with them to remind them of the wonderful day we had. It was awesome!

A couple of days later, I took my family to Tagaytay. We spent a night in Taal Vista – it was my first time to stay there and it was a really nice hotel with a great view of Taal Lake and Taal Volcano. We had lunch in Josephine’s before checking in to the hotel and immediately upon checking in, my nephews ask me to take them to the pool. I told them it was really cold but they insisted. They seemed to enjoy being in the really cold water but once they got out 20 minutes later, they were shivering like crazy. We turned in quite early that night and got up early the next day so that we could go to Taal Volcano. My grandparents just stayed at the Yacht Club to wait for us as we made our way to the volcano. We all went on horseback (and what was very interesting was that my nephew CJ had a 12 year old kid as his guide – can you imagine to pre-teen kids riding a horse all by themselves?) on our way up to the crater.

I had never seen in before and it was beautiful! Definitely worth a trip.

The boat ride back was actually a lot of fun as well because the lake was very choppy and we got splashed quite a bit LOL. We make a quick stop in Good Shepherd to buy ube and strawberry jam and stuff before making our way back to Manila.

And to wrap up the Christmas season, we celebrated CJ’s birthday with lunch in Mom and Tina’s before spending the rest of the afternoon in Ark Avilon Zoo and Fun Ranch in Tiendesitas. My brother had taken my nephews there before but I had never been. The great thing about this zoo is that it is interactive – kids can feed several of the animals there like rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, goats, and fish. They also have some animals like Orang utans, snakes, and cockatoos that you can have a photo op with.

It was late afternoon when we got to Fun Ranch so my nephews just got on a couple of rides – the boats and the bump cars before we head home. We did make one quick stop in Eastwood to get CJ the Bakugan that he dropped into the drain a week before.

I was knackered by the time the holiday season was over actually – in fact, I must have averaged less sleep during those two weeks than I do during work days LOL. But I’m not complaining. It was definitely a great Christmas season.