This weekend was hectic; it's the holiday season, of course. And it's not gonna get less busier anytime soon. But I can never complain; because for the first time in a long time, I have been busy preparing for my trip back home!
How long has it been? Five years? Ah no, it was seven years ago that I last spent the year-end holidays in Cebu. The reason I could not easily remember is because I had a crisis at work then. It was so silly of me, to have wasted a lot of energy getting so affected by those nonsensical corporate issues, that I took for granted the rare time I was at home on Christmas.
This year is different; my brother is getting married on Christmas day, my dad will be celebrating with us until New Year, and it will be the first time my European husband, Kevin, to join and experience the Filipino noche buena!
So then our shopping spree had begun. Christmas is capitalized here in Japan. From the second week of December most of the shops start hanging red SALE banners, and LED string lights. We never really buy much, but this time we joined the wagon. We spent our Saturday at CostCo, a wholesale supermarket with mostly imported goods. Our German friends have arrived the night before; curious about CostCo, we brought them with us shopping. My eyes sparkled at the vast merchandise and the scent of freshly-baked pastries made us hungry.
We stared at this pretty box of French red wine bottles, thinking twice if it's worth to carry this much load in our luggage when a French middle-aged man was kind enough to offer his advice. He said if the wine has a label, "Mis en bouteille au château", it's likely a good wine, because it meant that the wine had been bottled at the winery. I stopped drinking alcohol so I did not really care about the wine (you uncultured savage! lol), but I loved the travel chest inspired packaging. Kevin was convinced by the guy so we loaded it in our shopping cart.
Next items on the list were chocolates, and then there's more chocolates. It is customary to give sweets and other munchies coming home from living abroad. I am conflicted by this, after we started living a healthy lifestyle, but I guess it's okay to spoil them once in a while. Some for the college friends, distant relatives, and neighbors. It is Christmas after all.
The trip to the flea market, which was a spontaneous decision after we finished at CostCo, was a failure. We arrived there just when they were closing the parking space. A bit disappointed, we headed back home to drop what we bought, and walked to Jiyugaoka.
Ah, it was really the best decision to live in this area. I can window-shop as much as I can, or just sit at a bench on sunny mornings.
They have started putting christmas decos on the shops; it's getting colder but the ambiance is also getting warmer, luring people to spend time outdoors.
The rest of the weekend, I started packing and unpacking (twice!) trying to optimize our luggage space. But then I realized, there's still more items to check on my shopping list, that my husband doesn't know, 🙃.
I can see another busy week ahead - both for work and shopping. But I have never been so excited like this in a long time. I know this Christmas will be different-- better, happier, and complete.
I wish you a good celebration too, my dear friends! If you are not that fortunate to spend it with loved ones this year, I hope you never fail to make them feel special from afar, anyhow. xoxo