I am blessed. My work enables me to go to Boracay, all expenses paid, at the seasons where everybody seems to be on vacation at the island. I've heard it all, voices laced with envy and longing:

"You're so lucky!"
"Can I work as an assistant for you?"
"You're so lucky!"
"Do you have any openings?"
"Ang swerte mo!"
"I'd work for free!"
"You're so lucky!"

Yes, I am blessed. But people don't know the other side of the coin. Don't get me wrong. I love love love going to Boracay on Holy Week/ Halloween but I cannot help but feel envious when I hear my siblings or relatives talk about how much they had fun together on those holidays.

You see, I have a pretty close knit family. We try to see each other on Sundays at my grandmother's house. Whenever there is an occasion, we have themed parties. For instance, for Christmas, we either wear red or green. Once, we wore all white. Another time, each family had to wear a certain color. Last Christmas, my aunt was just diagnosed with breast cancer. Since she was going to go through chemo, which meant losing her hair, our theme was wigs and funny hats. Since my sister, Ara, and I weren't able to find hats, we improvised by using Christmas ribbons and ornaments. Think Winona Ryder's hats in Autumn in New York.


We throw surprise parties for each other, my grandparents always mostly being the recipient, whether it's a birthday or the announcement of the arrival of another apo. On long weekends and holidays, we sleepover at my grandmother's place. My grandmother is so accomodating that even family friends sleep over! Once, there was a total of, more or less, 40 people staying at her place. Sometimes, the entire family would go to Subic and stay over at my uncle's place. The kids would have games versus the adults. We'd play Hide and Seek at night, Monkey in the Middle aka Dodgeball and Agawan base. We do a lot of things together.

One of my favorite holidays is Halloween because my entire family dresses up. For instance, during Halloween '97, at the last minute, the entire family decided to go as cavemen, patterned after The Flintstones. Immediately, we had outfits sewn in Camuning (and we got the outfits at 2PM of Halloween, fresh from the market so it smelled like fish! The stench went well with our costumes!) We strung styrofoam balls to make them into pearl necklaces like that of Wilma and Betty of Flintstones. My uncle and aunt, who own a handicrafts factory, had paper mache-d clubs made. My dad even went trick or treating barefoot. People just adored our costumes and we got extra candy because of that. While we wore our Flintstones get up, another uncle and aunt, who planned their costumes way in advance, came as the Addams Family. My uncle, who is tall and thin, came as Lurch, the butler. My aunt wore a Morticia- like wig. Their kids, my cousins, who wore specially- made outfits, came as Pugsley, Wednesday and Pubert, respectively.

The following Halloween, we went as Prisoners of Alcatraz. Not those prisoners wearing bright orange jumpsuits, but the type you see in 1920s gangster movies. The white and black striped prisoner uniform. We got special mention for that in the village's Halloween costume contest.

The next Halloweens following those were a blur. There was that Halloween where we all dressed in black and put on heavy goulish make up (Here's a tip: You know those facial masks that you peel off? First, put on green foundation then the facial mask on your face. When that dries up, peel only certain parts on your face to make it look like your skin is malting. Apply red face paint/ lipstick on the peeled parts to make it seem like it's oozing blood).

There was another one where my aunt lined their garage wall with black cloth, had an artist paint scary scenes (cemetary, dark scary roads, haunted house on top of a hill, bright round moon, etc) on it using neon paint. By using a black flourescent light, the picture glowed! People had their pictures taken at their garage.

There was another Halloween where we hung a swing on our Acacia tree, had our house boy wear a black cloth and a witch's mask and sit on a swing with a broomstick so he would look like a witch. We placed a turbo fan under him to make it seem like he was flying. People had their pictures taken with him. Some of them didn't know that he was a real person and not just a decor and so when he moved, they screamed and ran!

Oh, how I wish I had pictures to show you how great Halloween is. Unfortunately, I need to find someone who could scan my pictures.

So what's the point of this whole entry? Just this year, I missed another great Halloween. My family, along with the families of two other uncles and aunts, went up to Subic and spent Halloween there. They were not complete but based on the pictures, they had so much fun. At the last minute, my sisters, mom and aunts decided to go as fairies! Check out their pictures below:






And may I add this picture of the youngest batch among the cousins. They are just too cute. They went to the beach and played soccer. Obviously, they had such a blast.



See, it's family bondings like these that make me wish, for a split second, that I wasn't in Boracay instead. (Side note: Cami and Ara laughs that they would pick Boracay any time!)