Christmas in October

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose. Sigh. Tis the season to be jolly again. But though Christmas is already in the Philippine air - here in Malaysia, it still feels like summer everywhere.

Gah. I am so bad at rhyming. But oh well. I tend to rhyme when melancholia decides to creep into my system.

I'm not going home this December. For the second year in a row. I'm not so sure if I should get used to that. Why am I not going home? Passport and visa issues, people. It's always that. If it were up to me, I could cough up some cash for plane tickets, but what good will flight tickets do me if I won't even be able to get past the check in counters anyway?

But, if it's any consolation, I did get to experience the Christmas cheer in my hometown. Tada! Christmas decors, yo!

It's so Christmassy!*

For those who have been to Baguio City, you'll recognize this as the perennial interior of the very cozy Forest House. The resto has been one of my family's favorite dinner spots ever since Ma and Pa stumbled upon the place last October 2010. We've been going there for special meals - like welcome meals, despedida meals, birthday meals - ever since. If you can't tell from Ma's photos page, we love that place very much.

I can never get the spelling right. FOREST House.

This Forest House dinner was extra special because it was the first dinner that I had with A and my family. And it was our first dinner together in my hometown. Wee. It was a nice treat. I mean, after being cramped inside a bus for eight hours with only one siopao and one mineral water bottle each, I should say it was a very, very, very nice treat.

Look, it's Finn the Human!

They ordered for us since we got stuck in traffic somewhere after Binalonan. We got out of the bus and into a taxi a couple of minutes before nine and it was a good thing the restaurant was gracious enough to let us stay though it was already near closing time. Ma had caldereta (lamb), Pa had ox tongue, Finn-the-human-slash-Johnny-Depp had salmon, A had chicken kebabs with herbs, and I had chicken in wine sauce. Everything was delish! We all shared food with one another. We didn't have our usual "donation plate" but that didn't stop us from letting the others have a taste of our orders.

Yummy food!

It was an awesome dinner. And it did feel like Christmas, with the freezing cold weather (I wanted to wear gloves!) and the festive decorations. They even had a Christmas tree with presents piled underneath!

With all these warm memories as my tapau, who am I then to feel sad and melancholy during this yuletide season?

Lezbe happy!

*Photo credit goes to Mother dear. ^_^