This Christmas feeling!

Our Christmas tree with all the gifts underneath.

For the first time in 5 years, I really felt the spirit of Christmas.

Once again, we spent on the Beach, under the sun and the coconut trees. 

And I always had a hard time feeling Christmas without the snow, the cold, the smell of a real Christmas tree, the old box of decorations we have since we are child and the fire in the chimney. 

But this year was special. Alia is here and she was our Christmas spirit!

On Christmas day, Daddy Yo came across with someone he knows. Someone from a foreign country. This person is not Catholic. When he automatically greeted him "Merry Christmas", this guy still and did not answered. Then, he started saying that Christmas was nothing and did not mean anything for him.

Parol on the beach: made out of eggs.

I actually never practiced Christmas in a Catholic way. We would only have our whole family coming at home and sleeping over. We would eat seafood and Foie Gras and chocolate and drink good wine, stay up late at night and talk in front of the chimney. Christmas would only be a family reunion for us.

Santa Claus is the representation of Christmas for me.

But I surely want Alia to know what Christmas means for her dad and his family. 
I would love to discover more by accompanying her to the church for Christmas when she will be bigger. The more knowledge, the more understanding you have of what is surrounding you. And the more acceptance. 


I do not have to embrace it. I just need to respect it.

So we went to Kalibo and bought a Christmas tree. A fake one, yes, but at least I have one!

We bought lights for our tree and the windows outside.

And a lot of gifts. For Alia's friends and most of it for our princess.

How exciting it was to decorate our first own family Christmas tree while drinking wine, after putting Alia to bed!

Every evening, we would put the lights on and enjoy the colors filling up our living room! (We actually still do..)

Over the next weeks, I packed all the gifts while Daddy Yo was building a Parol with a yellow light and red paper.

I even got around 150 Christmas songs on my computer, just for the occasion!

All the time Daddy Yo would ask me what I want for Christmas, I would joke and tell him: "A nanny!"

On the 24th, we took a family walk on the beach and had breakfast in our favorite place, Lemon Cafe. Then, we went to the back beach, in Freestyle Kite Center for Daddy Yo to work and kite a bit. 

He told me we were supposed to interview a potential nanny there. And shortly after the interview, my wish came true!! We have a new nanny! 

Finally, we can both go back to work and our house will be a bit more organized. 

Except Daddy Yo had two lazy and cocooning days when he did not want to leave the house despite the nanny. Just so he could cuddle and play with Alia. I guess their week of intense bonding made the separation difficult for both of them. Believe it or not, she is even more of a Daddy's girl now!

Daddy Yo & his princess.

But our best gift was to suddenly see Alia let go of the couch and walk about 10 steps to reach Daddy Yo and me! I am such a proud mama of a strong little girl!

Anyway, after a day on the beach, we got ready for our Christmas dinner.

Alia was wearing a cute little shirt I hand painted for her, with a Santa Claus hat on it.

We had an amazing traditional Noche Buena with our dear friends Nicole, Kim, Bogs, Lian and their kids, Karen and Buboy.

A table filled with Love and good food!

We stuffed ourself with amazingly good food: Christmas ham, Queso de Bola, freshly baked Pandesal from Lemon Cafe, Lechon stuffed with garlic and chili, fish Lumpia (the best ones!), Carbonara pasta made by our Junior master chef Malia and an amazing Kaldereta. We enjoyed watching the kids fighting against tiredness in order to open their gifts. Alia was the only early bird in bed but the other children followed her sooner or later.

Daddy Yo cutting the Lechon in his cute little apron.

After a late night filled with love and laughter, we all headed home.

On the morning of the 25th, I gathered all Alia's gifts on her mat and brought her in the middle.

Her reaction was priceless! She loved every single present. We spent the whole day in, playing, sleeping and cuddling. I loved every single minutes of this day!

First shot of Alia in the middle of all her gifts!

At night, we had a quiet night with our friends and neighbors Jack and Olya. More food and a bit of wine.

What an amazing first Christmas for our beautiful girl!

What an amazing gift the universe gave us to take care of such a sweet, fun and strong little soul.

Merry Christmas to all!

Alia, first one in bed and for sure, very comfortably settled!

Together we can do so much!

Daddy Yo left for a few days in Manila as his grand-father passed away.

We did not go with him: Alia is very young to witness a wake and funerals.

My morning love affair!

A day before the bad news, our nanny left the house for good, unexpectedly.

So here I am, alone with Alia for already 5 days. Not being able to go to work as long as I don't have a new nanny to take care of Alia.

Good thing Daddy Yo is coming back tomorrow.

Our morning walk on the way to a friend for lunch

A dear friend of mine welcomed me in her house while Daddy Yo is not with us so I won't be totally left alone. 

The though of being just the two of us was a bit overwhelming for me! 

We live quite far (as far as a 7 kilometers long island can be) from the center so I did not want to feel cut from the World for a week.

Frankly? I am exhausted! 

Alia's tooth number 7 went out and I have plenty of bruises from bites to testify.

And she is missing her Daddy Yo so she has been a bit cranky this past two days, having the first tantrums of her life, throwing herself on the floor, rolling and screaming, arching her back and saying a long and sad: "Babaaa"! Heartbreaking! And frustrating!

A new playmate and a lot of laughter this morning!

But we had quite a lot of good bonding and laugh trip and cuddles this past 5 days!

Eating delicious food, walking on the beach with my friend, swimming, listening to beautiful Christmas songs, having lunch in our friend's place who baked an amazing Lemon bar, dealing with Alia alone.

We had a couple of visit, a play date with a friend's little girl who wanted to hug Alia all the time, an unexpected play date with the neighbor little boy who was laughing out loud with Alia, an amazing Christmas party at work with a mascarade theme, a few accidents with a bump on the head, a lot of mosquito bites (despite the plug, the long sleeves and legged pajama and the Citronella) and a baby shower this afternoon.

Alia's face look like she has chicken pox due to a lot of mosquitoes on the first night. So last night, when we had to go to the Christmas party at my work (it's in a big, lust, beautiful garden), I almost bathed her in Citronella oil. Not a single new bites!!! But we had to soap her hard this morning to remove the sticky feeling!

Covered with Citronella oil from head to toes before going to our Christmas party!

I am lucky my friends and my friend's helper took Alia when I needed it the most, carried her while I was eating, played with her while I needed a break or a shower. And Alia was behaving most of the time! Lucky mommy!

She even charmed every single workers who were fixing my friend's bamboo wall every day. They all fell in love with her as she was crawling to the window to smile at them or follow them intrigued.

I am in awe in front of the single moms, even more than I used to be. What a hard job!

Blessed we are who have husbands or help at home! Who can pass our babies on for an hour to take a long shower or eat with our two hands!

Alia was already blessed with a couple of gifts from friends and work. But I did not open them yet. I will put them under our new Christmas tree! I will tell you this story in a couple of days!

At our "Mascarade" Christmas party!

I am beyond excitement to see Daddy Yo again tomorrow and I need rest. But if I have to spend another week alone with my little love, I will gladly do it  all over again!

The two of us are a good team!!