Thursday, Christmas Eve: The day started off like any other except for I got to sleep in a bit. It was totally relaxing. :) Mom was at work (and mad at my dad from the previous night, OMGosh, the things that were said...) and my dad and I planned to go to Norm's with my mom to eat Christmas Eve dinner. Cos our oven is still broken from Thanksgiving. No duck :( I got dressed up pretty nice because I was going to go to my Auntie Irma's house (mom's side) to be the ambassador for my parents seeing how they wanted to stay at home in case something happened to Nana.

Punk rock Mrs. Clause? HAHAH

When my dad and I arrived at Norm's we were very surprised to see that there was ample parking and that there was no waiting at all for a seat! Mom was there waiting for us and she surprised me with this little fella:

Isn't he cuuuuute??? :D I was like a little kid when I got this! We sat down, ordered our meals, sat, talked, had a pleasant meal. I like to think they were trying to be civil for me. After we were all finished, I got directions via my dying cell phone to Auntie Irma's house (which is in Chino Hills, amazingly close to Cyrene and Keil's homes!) and was there with little traffic. I was the first one there, I explained to the family that my Nana had a stroke and was in a coma and that's why my parent's couldn't be there. I dropped off the toys and started mingling with the incoming family. I spent a lot of time next to my Grandma, making sure she was okay. I ate the tamales she supervised making, oi, soooo good! Best tamales ever!!! I saw my cousins Nick and Sabrina, and met Nick's new girlfriend, Jenny, who is very pretty!

left to right: Sabrina, Nick, and Jenny

I had fun watching my little cousin, James, wandering around being all hyper and taking people by the hand to have them give him his presents! Someone had given him a red beanie. My family gave him a pair of red feety pajamas. Sabrina, his mom, told me he digs pajamas and wore them the rest of the night, he looked so so cute! I love that kid so much.

Auntie Irma & Cousin James (grandma & grandson), Sabrina and James (momma and son), James playing with his Hot Wheels track in the new beanie and pajamas he got!

I talked to a lot of the family that night, I was a social butterfly. I enjoyed myself very much and was very happy to spend time with them. I felt it was important to be with them, this being our first Christmas without my Grandpa. I miss him a lot, I know we all do. <3

Around 10:45pm or so, I said goodbye to the family and went on my way back to my city, I wanted to be sure I was right on time for midnight mass at my church. I got there in plenty of time! It was pretty cold, I was glad to have my new winter coat on. (though the buttons keep coming off >.<) I saw Pam's dad, Frank, there. He sat next to me, asked where my family was. It was nice to spend the mass next to him, he's, like, everyone's dad! We got special song sheets to follow the mass cos it was a trilingual mass: English, Spanish and Tagalog. I absolutely love special occasion masses, they're so beautiful and each one is different. Before the mass began, the choir had a little concert of Christmas music, it was very nice. At the opening of midnight mass, they had a little girl dressed all in white with curled hair carrying the Baby Jesus form the nativity scene down the aisle, it was precious! All 3 priests said their homilies, the Philippino priest sang "I'll be home for Christmas" very well, expressing how he was sad cos his family is still in the Philippines. Father Mike, our pastor, carried on the rest of the mass, he's a very good singer! I prayed for my Nana and for our family, especially since my dad asked me to. He's not a super religious person and he doesn't go to church very often but he knows I am very spiritual person so I suppose I was his ambassador then as well.

When I got home I was tired but knew I'd have to make it for the morning Christmas mass at 10am so I went to sleep. In the morning I took my mom to the Christmas mass, this one in English but with all the songs in Tagalog, it was really festive music they were singing! I was very happy that I could partake in the Eucharist these days, I felt very happy! After the mass, my parents and I went down to visit my Nana. My Uncle Fernie was in the room where she was. Nana's still in the coma, though she has moments where she wakes up for a few seconds then slips back in. My Aunt Becky told me in one of those moments, Nana had enough time to take out her feeding tube! My Uncle Fernie's kids came by to visit as well. I haven't seen my cousin Chrissy in a long time, she wanted to take my shirt from me cos it was from Torrid! My cousins Steven and Michael are doing well. After we dropped off our presents for the family there we made our way to my Auntie Lise's house where we stayed for a while and drank champorado and ate some tamales while watching an old movie, don't know the name of it. It was a good visit, I was very very happy that I got to see both sides of my family.

to be continued...