Christmas r & r

The Christmas season has arrived and finally we got the time to rest albeit a relatively short one. To spend the holidays, we decided to go home to lucena and be with my mom for Christmas. besides not being able to be with mama for months already, lucena is a place where we feel like we’re in an inn where we can just relax, rest and eat without paying anything. 🙂

after doing some household chores (laundry and stuff), we packed our things and went to lucena last dec 23. it took us about an hour before we got to ride on a bus though as most buses were fully-packed already. we thought we were finally getting on a bus kaso na-singit-an pa kami kaya hindi na din kami nakasakay at punong-puno na. it was a blessing in disguise though as just a minute later, another bus came by which, even though there were no more empty seats, was much more maluwag than the one that we just missed. God bless the conductor as he directed us to position ourselves near a seat wherein the passenger was just about to get off on the next stop. sa madaling salita, nakaupo din naman agad kami. 🙂

three hours later, we arrived.

we unpacked our stuff and soon we were having dinner already. kwento-kwento with mama habang kain syempre. 🙂 with fifteen cakes to bake the following day, mama had to sleep immediately after dinner kasi maaga pa lang mag-bake na daw sya.


freshly baked chiffon cakes.
we didn’t know that chiffon cakes were such a hit during Christmas. we saw a bakery selling these like hotcakes at sm lucena (oo, may sm sa lucena 😆) and they were smaller and more expensive than these.

everyone who’s got to meet my mom knows she’s a baker like no other. my friends are “fans” of her baked goodies. so much so that we served a couple of them during the cocktails of our wedding. ang bilis nga daw naubos, eh. 😀 sarap naman talaga.

when we woke up the following day, we were welcomed by freshly baked cakes on the dining table. yes, tapos na agad. hating-gabi pa lang, eh nag-start na daw mag-bake si mama. super sipag kasi talaga ni mama (so unlike me 😛). we joined in the fun by helping in wrapping of the cakes. 🙂


(top photo) banana cakes. selle’s favorite
(middle photo) it’s just like wrapping gifts
(bottom photo) the finished product. want one? 😉

much of our stay there was spent sleeping, eating and watching tv. ayos, no? 🙂 we did go to sm lucena for a couple of hours to buy a gift for mama. mali pa nga una naming bili kasi maliit yung size ng sandals na napili namin but since sm was just a 5-minute jeepney ride away, we decided to go back immediately to exchange the sandals for the correct size.

with much free time, i experimented with our compact point-and-shoot and added to our ring shots collection taken the last time we were there.


contrast makes a subject stand out. the luster of the rings makes it pop from the dark background. also, its elegance is a stark contrast to the roughness of the branches.


this is one expensive Christmas ball. 😀


breaking patterns is another photography technique. also, this photo was more effective once it was converted into black and white.


our anniversary’s coming up. 🙂

besides doing ring shots, i somewhat did another front yard experiment, this time in lucena. here’s what i produced… all in lomo. 🙂