Or lack thereof.

How was everyone's New Year Celebration?

Mine was sedate, but not entirely without fun. The lack of enthusiasm, I presume, can be blamed on the fact that we were, indeed, very much incomplete. The year did not start with a bang. Are we getting old?

The New Year's Eve dinner was good, but I now added more lbs than I care to count. Holiday weight is no joke, my friend. Mom contributed Adelina's Ham, Marca Pina Queso De Bola, Macaroni Salad, Fruit Salad and Pancit. Dobby and Winky gave their share of Pot Roast (do we still have any? damn it. Control.) and Lumpiang Shanghai. Sev and Ron brought their famous Polynesian barbecue and Carbonara. And Dolly bought the Coffee Crunch Cake. Mmm.

Not much more can be said about our Media Noche. We did the usual thing one expects from a family such as ours (filled with lotsa readers and coffee addicts). We sat down on our respective seats, rubbing our bellies, face slack with the kind of blank expression you get from a pig who's just had his own fill of food, and started chatting while Christmas songs (our favorite kind of music) played at the background. We smoked. We laughed. We sang-a-long with varied tones and pitches.

We are bleakly aware of the fact that most families tend to turn into more livelier activities than this during the holidays, but our festive mood stays locked up in that small chamber in our brains. We admit that our jolly-ness is a state-of-mind. We don't necessarily do any more of that dumb, instinctive passion that dull-witted writers call "bonding" - not because we 're apathetic to each other or the holidays, but because we do it almost everyday. Only, at the same time, with no definite answer as to why, we do seem more pleasant and jolly and forgiving during the Yule. It may be our subconscience, but I'm not convinced. Can it be that (God forbid) we had it right (for once) all along? Are the festivities really all a state of mind? Have other families been spending so much money to make their Christmas' and New Year's happier than the last over nothing?

But I digress, now tallying back to last night's events. After much chatting and smoking, Sev and Ron head home with Angus - they didn't want their nests empty at the start of the year. Dad and the rest of us (yes, myself included) decide to attend (again, yes) the mass. Not that I am sacriligous in anyway or form, but I just can't seem to sit still when surrounded by a large group of people, even in church. The thought terrifies me. The walls (ironic, since we were seated outside) close in and my lungs contract (maybe this is why I did so bad in high school!). Uneasy to the core, I decide to forego the rest of the mass and go home instead.

When all were back home, we counted down what was left of 2008 and enjoyed as we watched the fireworks display. It was beautiful. Lights dancing in the air over lapping one another, each more grand than the last, colors blazing. We hold out money and dance around while shaking them in the air, channeling our chakras. The firecrackers were extremely noisy, even more so than usual this year, thanks, in large part, to our pig-faced neighbours. The sounds have deafened me quite a lot, and I wonder whether this is why you lose your hearing through age. The more New Year celebrations you are present, the more firecrackers you hear, the more you deafen.

When the lights and sounds have died down, most of us head to bed, anticipating the trip we would venture on the next day.

The morning found me waking up to Dolly's voice. I get up, albeit reluctantly, head to the shower, and jump as the water first makes contact with my body. I shake it off as the heater turns on to a more adjustable temperature. I head downstairs to find that most of us are done getting ready. I scratch my head, hair dripping while unkempt and unbrushed from the shower, and then join my siblings for a quiet breakfast of spam, bread, left over macaroni salad, and chocolate milk.

Dad arrives with Sev and Ron and we attempt and succeed, with unflattering results, to squeeze ourselves in. The trip was uneventful, save for the chatting. Sev and I ask dad to stop by the Starbucks in one of the gas stations at the expressway and we claim Dumbledore's planner.

We arrive at Ima's house at around 11am. We seperate, all heading to different parts of the house, and the rest is all a blur.

Here's a toast, to my siblings and I, for surviving another year. To new beginnings and happy old memories. To laughter. To love. To Singapore on march and seeing the Tutays.

Goodbye, 2008. You were wonderful.