Christmas Eve day F.B. & I went to Robinson’s Metro East early in the morning. We hung out at a net café for a couple hours while I uploaded more wedding photos, etc. Afterwards we had lunch at Wendy’s in Sta. Lucia Mall. (Baconator…mmmm… deadly, but delicious! Hehe!)
We stopped at an electronics store after lunch so F.B. could get me a Christmas gift. He got me an 8GB USB Flash Drive. Yay! We also stopped at the Guess store again… I have a bad addiction with that store in the Philippines! I’ve gotten 4 t-shirts from there already, and it’s not exactly cheap. They were all around P800-P1300. ($17-28 USD).
Christmas Eve we went to church around 9:30pm. The church was packed with people. When we got back to F.B.’s house we had ‘Noche Buena’ around 12am. We exchanged Christmas gifts with the family and took pictures. We had dinner around 1am and didn’t get to bed until around 3am Christmas Morning.
Christmas Day we stayed home and relaxed. Around 6:30pm we went to Mega Mall to Saisaki Buffet to have dinner with F.B.’s family & relatives. Afterwards we had Starbucks.
Christmas Photos:
F.B.’s aunt got me this cute wooden mouse pen and wooden mouse toy for Christmas.
Mugwort eating in the kitchen:
December 28th we had a free overnight stay at the Malayan Plaza Hotel in Pasig City. It was a gift from one of F.B.’s aunts. It’s just around the corner from Mega Mall and Robinson’s Galleria in Pasig City. Our hotel suite had its own little kitchen, with a microwave, stove and full fridge. There was also a DVD player, but we didn’t bring any DVD’s with us! Our Room:
Our Kitchen!
View from our hotel room:
We wanted to go to the IMAX Theater at Mall of Asia, but it was still packed with holiday shoppers, etc so we ended up going to Robinson’s Manila to spend the afternoon there. I got another cute keychain mouse/rat to add to my collection! We also checked out Fort Santiago but it was really hot that day so we didn't stay long.
New Years Eve we headed to church around 9:30pm. We got back home around 11pm. It was pretty loud with people setting off firecrackers and fireworks all over the place. At 12am we had dinner. F.B. & I had Spongebob necklaces that light up from Ate Malou’s daughter, Jenny. New Years Photos:
With Jenny:
I also got to call home to my family on Christmas & New Years. My ratties are doing well while I'm away. They even got banana chips as a Christmas Gift from my Mom. Hehe. Here's a photo of Saffy they sent to me, she's wearing a Santa Hat!
Sunday we are headed to the Best Western Astor Hotel in Makati City for 5 days, 4 nights. We check out on the 7th. We also still have to pick up our marriage certificate sometime soon and we are also still waiting on the professional wedding photos. We want to head back to Tagaytay one day this month too. For our first wedding “monthiversary” on January 19th, we are going to go back to the Manila Hotel. The 23rd I will be heading home. I've already been in touch with our lawyer. I will be contacting him when I'm back in the USA, so we can start F.B.'s immigration process. It's estimated to take 1 year to 2 years at the most. We are doing a longer process on purpose because it will save us money in the long run and F.B. will be a permanent resident when he finally steps off the plane in the USA.
NOTE: Our lawyers Peter J. Gonzales & Shanna Stanton have changed firms. They are no longer with Kahiga Tiagha. They are now with Green and Spiegel LLC, but still located in Philadelphia.
