A Businesswoman, a Banker, a College Professor & an IT Manager

This is what happens when a businesswoman, a banker, an IT Manager and a college professor who’s a candidate for PhD do a Christmas dance number.

They call their group, The Wrong Direction (gleaned & predicated from the British group One Direction). And every year, when they are about to end their wacky performance they would shout and ask us, the spectators, “Mabuhay Manila, do you want more!?”.  And every year all of us, their dazed & confused audience, in unison would scream the biggest “NOooo!!”.

Gabby, the IT Manager! He was judged the best performer this year.  Haha!

Holding a talent contest and performing in front of my family during Christmas Eve has been a tradition.   They won the Grand Prize this year amounting to 60 USD.  So, can you just imagine how bad the other groups (my other family members) performed? 

They claim that they won because they were so in unison and perfectly danced like the Korean pop group BTS.  Why did they win?  It was because I was the judge.  Haha!  These businesswoman, banker, college professor and IT manager are my crazy niece & nephews by the way.  One good thing though, they are not working for one company.  After their crazy performance, I had a headache.

Someone Celebrated His Birthday

It was his birthday days ago but only had its simple celebration yesterday.  There was the obligatory cake, the sumptuous food, wine and cheese.  There was even the crazy blowing of the candle!

stay sane and happy!

with my mom and the rest of the fam!

May you have the strength of the heroes, the wisdom of the divine, the wealth of the gods, the smile of the angels and the body to die for! Hahaha!

Happy Birthday to me.

Mama Mia 2: A Luis Movie Treat

I just have to chronicle this delightful experience! Me, Nengkoy and a couple of my beautiful relatives were treated to a delightful movie all paid for by my nephew Luis. I just have to blog post this event because this is actually the first time that Luis paid for all our movie tickets. And the treat was not just in any other ordinary movie house it was in an affluent and more luxurious venue, the Director’s Club in SM Aura Premier Mall.

The comfortable mechanized la-z-boy seat and the complimentary bowl of buttery popcorn added up to the pleasurable delight of the movie we chose to watch. It was the Mama Mia 2. Like the first version, Mama Mia 2 again made me tap my feet and sing along with the popular tunes of Abba. Some of the songs included in the movie were semi-hit in the Philippines yet I felt silly that I was able to sing along when these semi-popular songs reached the chorus. 

 

(l-r) nephew luis, me and nephew denden

nengkoy and I (inside director’s club movie house)

happy nengkoy

Delightful would be the best word to describe Mama Mia 2: Here We Go Again. Though the movie was not as fun and as merry if compared to the first version, which included more popular tunes and more comical scenes, the treat by that of my nephew Luis made this movie unforgettable!

Naka libre din! Sa wakas!

Arziolo, the Grand Nephew

Arziolo is the first child of my niece Glygly.  This kiddo made it official that I am now indeed a Grand Uncle.  First time seeing and touching this little champ melted my heart. 

cuteness overload

With the more than twenty nieces and nephews that I have, I’m pretty confident on knowing how to be a cool uncle.  But with the addition of Z (Arziolo’s nickname) in the family, I have yet to know and find out what it would be like being a Grand Uncle.  One thing though is for sure, it would always be some cheerful meetings in the future with Arziolo and his delicious Tito Lolo.

And this makes Nengkoy to officially be a Great Grand Mother.  Welcome to Team Langit Arziolo!

Ang kyut!

The Gift of Laughter Every Christmas at Nengkoy’s

One of the greatest gifts that a person can receive this Christmas (and for every Christmas for that matter) is the gift of laughter.  And each year, this is one precious gift that I receive from my family.

Every year at Christmas Eve since their childhood days, my nieces and nephews would group up and do a presentation at Nengkoy’s house.  Each group would got to compete for a prize money.  I am always one of the judges along with Nengkoy and my elder sister.  And since my nieces and nephews got their funny bones from their grandmother Nengkoy, all their presentations always turns out to be something so hilarious!

These year though majority of my nephews and nieces are now professionals and some has even gone married, each one of them still never failed to give the family some very good laugh.  All these glee and hilarity really adds up to the joyful and happy spirit of Christmas every single year at Nengkoy’s house.

happy!

they’re all grown up!

Merry Christmas!

Sakit sa panga!

Christmas 2016 at Nengkoy’s

Pure fun and hilarious riot.  That is how I would describe my annual Christmas Eve moment year after year.  Every time my family gathers during this beautiful time and especially when all my nieces and nephews would show up at Nengkoy’s house on Christmas Eve, sheer joy and laughter would ensue.

 

team langit #livelovesparkle

2016 Christmas at Nengkoy’s was metric tons of happiness.  Everyone lived, loved and sparkled that night!

Sakit sa panga! Grabe!

Christmas 2015 at Nengkoy’s Place

Spending Christmas Eve at Nengkoy’s place has always been festive, cheery and hilarious. My general feeling every Christmas Eve at Nengkoy’s is like that of sailing into the supermoon with my family or it’s the feeling of being the biggest doll among all dolls in the babushka doll.   Everyone’s positive energy resonates which gives light to what a happy Christmas should be.

Celebrating the holidays has made my family even closer together.  And I will never exchange for anything the time I would get to spend Christmas Eve at Nengkoy’s place.

Hilaryus!

Ate Gaying Looks Richer Today (Just Today)

my dear sister on a fine powdery snow…

Me and my elder sister Gaying believes that there is a direct and positive correlation between the way a person looks and the number of flyers that person receives every time he or she is in a mall.  We believe the more affluent-looking or rich-looking you are, the more flyers will be handed to you by Flyer Ladies and Flysheet Dudes inside a mall.

That is why when I and my elder sister Gaying would be together inside a mall for some shopping, we have some sort of a small competition.  We would tally how many flyers would be handed over to each of us.  The person who receives the most number of flyers at the end of shopping wins.

Scoring would actually depend on the type of flyer given to us.  If the flyer would be about a luxury car, a posh condo unit or a high-born club membership that would mean high points.  But if the flyer is about a missing pet, a launching of a new soy sauce brand or would be about a dishwashing liquid that would definitely trigger hilarious pang-aapi (verbal oppression) and riotous heckling towards the person who received it.

me and ate gaying love osaka!

And since it’s my Ate Gaying’s birthday today and though we did not go shopping today, let me concede and declare that today even without any flyer (just for today though) that she looks richer and more high-heeled than I am.

Sige dahil bertday mo, mas mukha kang mayaman ngayong araw kesa sa kin. Happy Birthday Ate!

Kicking Yule Cat’s Ass This Year: Christmas Shirt for 2014

Icelandic legend has it that anyone not dressed with brand new clothes on Christmas Day would be devoured by the ferocious Yule Cat.  Though my family is not from the Nordic country of Iceland, we do observe the tradition of wearing new clothes during the festive Christmas Day.

More than five years now, my family has kept a somewhat different variety of tradition in terms of wearing new clothes on Christmas.  It is because we opt to be wearing the same design of clothing every year during Christmas Eve.  Call if uniform, call it a costume or call it regalia but this tradition has kept us in a way to be more bonded as a family.

And every year, it takes weeks before the final color and design will be agreed upon.  Knowing how liberal and outspoken each and every member of my family is, it comes not as a big surprise that there were lots of funny debates, hilarious deliberations and side-splitting discussions on how the style and design would look like.

A way of kicking the Yule Cat’s ass this year, my family opted for a vibrant baby pink color shirt with a somewhat retro chocolate brown design print.  Here’s how it looks…

cool!

i love it!

Sino ba ‘yan Yul Kat na ‘yan? Pusang gala lang yata ‘yan!

Nengkoy, The Kengkengs & The Boy With Dirty Knees

While our family waits to celebrate the Christmas Eve of 2013, me and my monster “pamangkins” (nieces and nephews) along with Nengkoy, of course, did a little photoshoot.

We tried remaking the photo of a happy, naïve and innocent picture shot at the exact spot MORE THAN TWENTY years ago.  My “kerengkeng” nieces and a nephew in this photo were the first batch of grandchildren of Nengkoy.

Then & Now: thatch, kim, erika, kate and denden with nengkoy

Complete with white ribbons, red shirt, white blouses, and green shorts the exact pose was recreated.  What made me laugh hard about doing this photo is when my nephew Denden was dirtying his knees for the shoot since it’s so apparent in the original photo that his knees were super “dungis” (soiled).

These photo made me realize that when we were innocent children, we seldom think of the future.  This innocence lets us free to enjoy ourselves.  It also made me think that growing up is actually not a bad thing at all.  Because it allows us to make a difference in the world, to find out who we are and to live the life we imagined as children…

Grabeng tuhod ‘yan! Ang dungis!!!