Cristmas 2010 of Pobres

Thousands of years ago, a Blessed Virgin gave birth to the begotten Son of our Lord and the Redeemer of mankind. It was the story that gave us all hope and declared the love between families and all men and became a tradition that every day of the birth of our Lord, Jesus, we celebrate his righteousness, purity and love together with our family. Especially with Filipino family custom of being close-knit, a yearly reunion won’t go missed.

In the case of Hilario Pobre – Marciana Pascual clan, we, their descendants, made an oath when they were still living, that we will continue our annual voyage back to San Jose, Nueva Ecija to reunite with our family and celebrate the Christmas fête. It is a tradition where children awaits the whole year for they will receive gifts and cash envelopes from every working and/or couple members of the family; everyone updates their chikas; gathers around a newly roasted Lechon while others give snares at it, imagining the cholesterol it could give the muncher; eat from the grand varieties of food offered; and for some, grouped beside the kamalig to drink some liquor and discuss things.

In accordance to that promise as our obligation to our grand folks, together with my kin - my mom, dad, brother, my aunt from States and Aizen left our home in Quezon City around 7:30 am of the 23^rd leaving my sister and my husband (was about to follow us the night of the same date though weren’t able to due to difficulty of obtaining a bus ride). As soon as we arrived the ancestral house, dropped our luggage, settled in our own designated rooms, me and my mom planned the menu for the Christmas day lunch, and discussed how we will tackle the busy day. The 24^th of December, my mom hired a couple of helpers to assist us in preparing the ingredients, clean the utensils needed and do whatever stuffs we might neglect to do because of our busyness. Everyone was full of activity and have something to do. As early as they could, mom and Auntie Julie went to the public market while my dad, Aizen and I went to a local supermarket to purchase the remainder on our list.  That afternoon, we began with the peeling, chopping, slicing…everything we could think of to make our cooking easier for the following morning.

It’s Christmas Day! I woke up at 5:30 am and immediately went straight to the kitchen. There, mom already half-way in finishing her Pinakbet. We juggled in cooking Pinakbet, Spaghetti, Fried Tilapia, Menudo, breakfast and unexpectedly, Dinuguan. Relatives started arriving from Manila and from the other house. My husband was in charged of Aizen that morning, understandingly due to my duty in the kitchen. Tired but still excited on the occasion, we managed to finish all the dishes and there were additional foods prepared by other members of the family like the Lechon, vegetable salad and Pinapaitan by Auntie Emma and family, Lumpia by Ate Karissa, the Grilled Bangus and Hito by Uncle Jess, Fresh Fruits and Sansrival of Betty’s given by Ate Lai.

As all my relatives gathered around, it became apparent that this year’s Christmas is quite different. A lot of missing faces and few of my relatives are not well enough to join us in the celebration. Like Uncle Hermie, who, got a pneumonia days before the Christmas Day and Auntie Lita, due to her Parkinson’s disease and old age, can’t endure the long travel. Unfortunately, others can’t come due to unavoidable commitments, work and some are already staying abroad. Even so, those who were present tried to uplift everyone’s Christmas Spirit especially Ate Lina, despite of the previous operation and current condition, still managed to travel and bear the voyage from Laguna to Nueva Ecija, been merry the whole time and became the life of the occasion. Kuya Phics, for quite sometime, weren’t able to join us because he’s already staying in the U.S. but was able to be with us this Holiday.

Like every Christmas, the program started with a soulful prayer lead by Uncle Jess followed by remarks made by the siblings Jorge and Valeriano Pobre reminding us our promise and obligation as I have said earlier. After which, we have some parlor games for adults and ofcourse, for children too. We had our exchange gifts and the distribution of cash envelopes for the kids.

It’s time to eat and everyone devoured on the feast. Some are already too full and needed to open the first few snaps of their pants. Some kids started to run around as soon as they were through with their food. But most of them, climbed up to the second floor, have their own individual gaming consoles, their heads bowed down, and lived their own worlds. While most of my cousins, aunts and uncles are discussing at our front porch some important matters like rumors, slapsticks within the family while eating Rocky Road, Cookies and Cream, and Ube Macapuno flavored ice creams. By mid-afternoon, everybody called it quits and decided to have our “Photoshoot” at the San Jose Cathedral by night time. My boys were at our room had their own multimedia center setup just to shush my son and nephew. As for us (my mom, dad, Auntie Julie, Ate May, Norman, Ate Gie, Rael, Nadia and I), we went to our family mausoleum to visit and offer prayers to my eldest sister-Myla, Inang and Tatang, and Aunts and Uncles that were long gone.

Night fell and as planned, Ate Elsa, Len-Len and Aldrin fetched us (Auntie Julie, Ate Elvie, Ate Gie, Nadia Alfred, Aizen and I) to go to the Cathedral and have shots taken. But when we passed the Cathedral, there’s still a mass and so, Ate Elsa suggested that another good venue was the Violago compound because of their vast lawn area and lots of lights scattered throughout the property. It was like a light garden. Different colors, lots of stars, and decors from different materials. When all the possible poses were captured, we returned to the cathedral. Exactly when we got there, the mass had just ended and excited with the cathedral’s all-white lights designed in twirls and scrolls, we instantaneously positioned ourselves in the main entrance of the church. Click here, there, outside, inside, everywhere within the church grounds. As we all got our desired shots and admired the whole façade, we went back in the vehicle and went to Auntie Emma and Uncle Jorge’s home for dinner. Made few more chit-chats and it was time to go back home and call it a day.

Stressful as it may, I’ll never get tired celebrating Christmas as the Pobres celebrates it. Hopeful that next year will be better.

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All photos were provided by Ms. Elvie Pobre