My last blog was all about traditions in my family of Christmas. Since writing it, my mind has become filled with other memories I have of Christmases past. I could probably write another entire blog on them! But, now I want to tell you about Christmas in the Philippines. It is very different from Christmas in the U.S., at least from Christmas in the Noonan Family!!
On Christmas Eve, we attended the 10pm mass at the Cathedral, The Nativity of Mary Parish. The mass was celebrated by Bishop Crispin Varquez and the church was completely packed with people once again. In fact, we brought chairs with us, and I am glad we did because we had to use them!! The Bishop said a beautiful mass, and he sang all of the Liturgy of the Eucharist. That was so special... I love when priests do that!! When mass was over, there was joy and happiness everywhere I looked. Christmas greetings were shared with hugs and kisses... it took us quite a while to get home!
When we got home, it was about 11:30pm. First we had a prayer service for the Baby Jesus led by Sister Minerva. We all took turns adoring the Baby Jesus and sang songs to Him. There were about 40 people there, most of them children!! After the prayer service, we ate dinner. That's right, dinner at midnight. And it wasn't a quiet, intimate affair as you might think a midnight dinner might be... it was loud and noisy and great!! We had made fried chicken, ribs, sautéed vegetables, fish, and I made spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread. Now, I think I told you that these Filipinos, probably most Filipinos eat rice with every meal. It is always on the table, and it is almost always all consumed. Well, at one point, I looked up and noticed that every single person at the table, all Filipinos, were eating spaghetti and meatballs without a single grain of rice to be found on their plates...!!! I lifted up my hands in victory and shouted "Yes!! I am Americanizing you!!!" I don't think any of them really realized it until I said something, but oh yeah... for some reason that felt really good to me!!
We also ate casaba cake. Casaba is a root vegetable and it is cooked and pureed, then coconut milk and sugar are added. It is similar to pumpkin pie, without the crust. And we ate ubi jam. Ubi is also a root vegetable. It grows like a potato, but it is deep, deep purple in color. Once again, you cook the ubi, then peel the skin and mash it. Then sweetened milk, cream, vanilla and sugar are added and it is cooked until it all comes together. And we had sponge cake, wine, pop... it was a great meal!!
After dinner, the games began. Apple dancing... two people dance with an apple between their foreheads, and to win, you have to not drop the apple...no touching it with your hands!! Then there was a game where the players had to say the word Merry Christmas and see who could say it the longest without taking a breath. The last game we played was called Bring It and one person called out something, like a sock, and the first person to bring it to her won. The prize for all of these games was pesos. We had a little gift giving session and then it was about 2am. At that point, I called it quits because I was super tired!!
But, I was up again, on Christmas morning, at 4am to begin making food for the poor people who come looking for food on Christmas. We made spaghetti and fried chicken, enough for about 300 people. We had also packaged up treat bags for children, about 300 of those too. After cooking the food, we packaged it up to be given away later in the morning. I had just enough time to take a quick bucket bath and get ready for church. The 8am mass was in English and I was grateful for that!! After a beautiful mass, I went back to the mission and we began handing out all of the goodies we made and packaged up. People all gathered outside our home and we began handing out the food. Almost too quickly, the food we had prepared was all handed out and we had to close up, but those amazing sisters went out and bought a few more things to give away. Their thoughtfulness and generosity knows no bounds!!
After a little nap, we headed to the Bishop's Residence to sing carols for him. The kids sang superbly, as usual, and were rewarded with pesos and candy, along with cake and ice cream. The sisters tell me that the kids look forward to this all year! It was super fun!!!
And then, it was time for cleaning up, eating leftovers and going to bed early. What a beautiful and fun day!!!
The next day, we had a special visitor... Lizell. Do you remember her? Lizell is the young girl who was accidentally hit by our driver Joey in a strange set of circumstances that was somehow divinely planned. Lizell and her grandmother were brought to our home for breakfast on the day after Christmas. They were given food, clothing, candy and a solar power pack to provide them with electricity, which as of then they didn't have. We use them when we have a brown out at night and they really work well. They provide light, but you can plug in lamps, computers, it has a few USB ports for charging devices, and the whole this is run on solar energy. It comes with a few light bulbs so you can have light without having to purchase anything. Lizell looked great, healthy and happy to be with us. At the time of the accident, Lizell's grandmother begged Sister Minerva not to abandon them, and although they live a few hours away, the sisters will never abandon them. They are in the care of Oikos now. Praise God!!
I just wanted to add that I think sometimes people may think that they do not have enough money to make any kind of difference in the missions. That if they gave what they could afford, it wouldn't be enough of a gift to help anyone. For that reason, I wanted to tell you of a gift my family gave. Instead of giving gifts to each other, they all decided that this Christmas they would donate money to the Oikos Sisters for their Christmas. Each family gave what they would have spent on a gift for someone, perhaps a bit more, but the total they sent was $600.00USD. It is a very generous gift, but I don't think anyone in my family had any clue as to how far their gift would go. With that money, which is 27,000PHP by the way, we bought 20 bibles for the scholars that live in the Oikos homes, we fed 300 people on Christmas day (fried chicken, spaghetti and rolls), gave 300 children bags filled with treats for Christmas and we bought 6 breviaries for the sisters as they lost theirs in Typhoon Ruby and have been using incomplete ones for their Liturgy of the Hours prayers. Truly, truly no gift is too small!! You have no idea how far God can stretch gifts we give... He can increase it 7 fold!! There are so many people in need all around the world, and praise God that there are missionaries all around the world caring for them. If you would like to give to this mission, please go to www.poorhouseholdofgod.org.
As the church continues to celebrate Christmas, I again wish you a Merry Christmas!! xxoo
