As the years go by, I noticed that I have been missing out with various Filipino Traditions that filipinos do during Christmas. Well not all five facts are not mainly me missing out. lol
Here are 5 Facts About Me During Christmas Season!

5 - CLASSROOM DECORATIONS
Okay. I think that most schools in the Philippines would host a 'Classroom Decorating Contest' before their Christmas Parties. I know you know what I am talking about. Alright. In our school, even first graders get to decorate their classrooms with various Christmas decorations. Through the years, our class have not won anything yet from this contest until we went to high school.
Our Freshman President lead our classroom decorations, he basically planned how it would look like. Judging came, and of course, we lost. That year (when we were freshmen), sophomores won the contest.
Sophomore year came, and this time our class adviser was really hands-on with us. She was really serious about this, and she wanted to win for the second consecutive time. Little did we know, that her trick into winning the contest was placing a "Belen" inside a classroom which my classmates and I helped together to set up. Our adviser brought actual hay for the "Belen". After the judging, we finally won!

4 - OH CHRISTMAS TREE
You know how every filipino household would at least have a Christmas tree for Christmas. I remember the time when we first had our real Christmas Tree, that we picked up. It is very different from having a fake one, because you still have to water the tree every now and then. A real Christmas tree has a distinct scent to it. The house would smell like Christmas, and it is fun to decorate!

3 - SECRET SANTA GONE WRONG
We were young at that time. This took place in school, and I cannot remember what grade we were in. During our Christmas party, we exchange gifts. I peacefully gave my gift to the person that I got. When my name was called, I went up and opened the gift in front of the entire class. My secret Santa handed me his gift, and I noticed that his gift was small. I did not take it seriously, and opened the gift. My gift was a six piece Yu-Gi-Oh cards!! My friends and classmates were getting nice gifts, but I get a six piece Yu-Gi-Oh cards. lol. Mind you, the amount was supposed to be no less than PHP150. hahahaha. My Secret Santa was an exchange student from South Korea that time, and I believe Secret Santas were not a thing before to them. My teacher grabbed her gift, and gave it to me instead. The ending? I had the best gift than the rest of my classmates. xD

2 - PUTO BUMBONG
Hold on. Yes, the kakanin. The purple stuff that they cook outside the church. Yeah. I never had them before. I never had Puto Bumbong before, and I do not know why. Maybe because I often prefer Bibingka with salted eggs? I need to try this when I go back to the Philippines!

1 - MISA DEL GALLO
You go to church, and hear mass early-- very early in the morning, and you start doing this from December 15th until Christmas. So you go to church in the morning at probably 5am for ten consecutive days. You know. I never completed Simbang Gabi before. People say that once you completed the ten days, and make a wish during the last day of church, your wish will come true. But I never completed Misa Del Gallo or Simbang Gabi before, so I am not sure if a wish would truly come true. I am personally not a morning person, so I have a hard time waking up and go to church that early. I have tried it before for at least 4 consecutive days, and until I forget about it in the morning, but I still go to church even if I miss a couple of days. Until up to this day, I still have that on my bucket list, and I hope I can cross that out for the next years!

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Merry Christmas!

x,
rj