Holidays in Davao

If I was stressed out during the holidays in Manila, I was more stressed out with my holidays in Davao.

> Momi Katie, my grandmother’s sister-in-law, died last Dec22 I think. So everyone in Kidapawan and other relatetives in Davao and beyond came to pay respects. It became a reunion of sorts. She was buried on Dec 29. Mom, being her usual self, was hell-bent, though in denial, na makisawsaw sa program. I’m sure her help was appreciated. But I got dragged into the whole thing, which aggravated my stress. I helped prepare the powerpoint presentation for the eulogy. Family issues and dysfunction aside, I was grateful to have had time to hang out with my family and relatives.

> We finally bought an old, yet fully functional, Mitsubishi sedan. Since nobody knew how to drive a stick-shift, I was the designated driver the whole time I was home. I took everybody to their errands: mom to do the grocery & pick up stuff at school, drive lola & the family to and from Momi Katie’s wake, teach Og & Onch how to drive, drive dad or his lunch to and from the airport, go to mass, etc. It was very tiring. I made a resolution not to underestimate the stress from driving, especially if Bucky’s the one driving.

> Dad’s siblings, and their respective spouses and children, celebrated Noche Buena with us. We wrapped small gifts for the children & oldies alike, stacked them under the Christmas tree, and prepared the food. The kids had a great time distributing and opening their gifts. It was a very long and tiring, but happy day.

> A day before the burial, we all went to Costa Marina for some sun and a blast in the beach. The kids had so much fun playing with a big spiky, orange starfish, my camera, and the rental salbabida that 8 hours of horsing under the sun was not enough.

> 2006 was my high school batch’s 10th graduation anniversary. Months before the event, some batchmates residing in Davao planned the whole thing. I contributed by suggesting to have an “awarding” ceremony for the batch. It was fun, we had different awards like “first love never dies”, “hot momma”, “who’s your daddy?”, and a lot more. People had fun choosing the candidates, and applauding the winners.

> New Year. Mom and I bought groceries again for the New Year. We heard mass in St. Paul and headed home to prepare. Since it was Daddy Lando’s first holiday without Mommy Kates, Lola wanted to be with him. So after mass, I, together with mom and dad, drove lola to Maa, initially having negotiated that we stay there till before midnight only. But of course, she changed her mind while we were there. She didn’t want to go home. So Mom, Dad and I went back home, prayed, and celebrated media noche. At around 2am, I went back to Maa and fetched lola. At around 4am, dad woke me up so that I could drive him to the airport. Talk about holiday stress. Hay, it was one of the most stressful Christmas I had. And I thought the car was supposed to make my life easier in Davao. But all’s well, minsan lang naman ako nasa Davao and help around the house.

For this year, majority of us in the family (everybody except mom) wanted to have a “jologs” family portrait, sans pambahay and no makeup. Nainis si mom, but what the heck, we did it anyway.

We also spent the New Year lunch at Daddy Toots house in the northern part of Davao. It was even farther than the airport. He had a cute puppy.

I went back to Manila the next day, which was by the way, my bday.