Christmas has always been my favourite time of the year and I always look forward to the festive gatherings this season, especially noche buena, which is the Philippine traditional Christmas eve dinner.
My flatmate Jemma and I were both in Singapore for Christmas, so we decided to host it in our home.
We invited my LZ friends and our friend Jo to join us, because the more the merrier the Christmas, right? And also, Christmas is always better with kids around, their energy just brings the Christmas spirit up a huge notch.
Brian and Elma ordered lechon (Philippine roast pork) from Don Lechon, Carlo and Kris bought leche flan from a friend of theirs, Jemma steamed some rellenong bangus, I ordered Arnold’s friend chicken from Grabfood and prepared my fave veggie salad, and we asked Jo to bring chips.
Our friend Cate, now based in Sydney but who used to be part of our LZ group while she was still in Singapore, was thoughtful enough to send keto cheesecakes that she ordered from Soulmyeketo on Instagram. The cheesecakes are so yummy, like real cheesecakes that you can’t even tell they’re low carb!
Brian also brought a bottle of red wine which I was luckily prepared for with some fancy disposable wine glasses.
We ate and drank our fill. Then when the two little boys excitedly played with their toy cars and Jenga pieces (we were supposed to play with them the normal way, but apparently it was more fun to make it a part of their car game, so okay), Kris informed us that she had prepared a Christmas Trivia for us ladies to participate in, and that she even had a prize. Yay!
Now remember when I said at the beginning that I really love Christmas? Well that means I happen to know a lot of useless Christmas information, much to everyone’s surprise. 😆This never really came in handy before until this moment, when I won!
After that, we decided to play with Bryce’s Pokemon Monopoly board. It was just like the usual Monopoly but with a Pokemon theme.
The kids were quite funny. Karl kept trying to pay us even if we were supposed to pay him, and laughed every time someone had to go to jail. Bryce was sad when he had to go to jail at one point, and Jo comforted him by saying, “At least you don’t have to lose money while there!” She had a point, actually.
At one point, Karl asked Jo, “Can I bring you home?” We all laughed, thinking, OMG isn’t he a bit too young to be picking up girls? Then he turned to his parents and asked, “Can I bring them home?” Brian laughed as he realized, “He thinks we’re like stray cats that he found on the street and wants to bring home!” I guess he was having so much fun with us, and I don’t really blame him, we all were, so much so that we didn’t realize how late it was. We decided to wrap things up at midnight and after we counted cash and property, we realized that I had once again won! I’m so lucky, I should buy a lottery ticket or something.
I’m really glad that I got to spend Christmas eve with these guys, it was so much fun! The next day, Jo mentioned that she enjoyed playing Monopoly, so I immediately went on Amazon to check out how much one costs, and to my pleasant surprise, it was on sale for $17, so I bought it immediately.
Here’s the thing – this is a childhood dream come true for me, actually. Some time ago I blogged about being an innovative kid:
A classmate had brought his Monopoly board game to school on a Friday, and I fell in love with the game. As much as I wanted to have one for my own, I did not come from a well-off family and I knew that we could not afford the expensive toy. So I didn’t even ask my parents to buy me one.
Instead, I took a folder and drew my own version of monopoly on it. Money cut out from my dad’s used bondpapers, movers and properties chiseled out of firewood, and some dice from an old game completed the game board.
So it may have taken more than two decades, but dreams do come true, I guess? You just have to be patient! Merry Christmas to me, and to you, too!
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