Okay now let me see....

gifts? check....wrapping them up? check.....envelopes for the inaanaks? righty-o....housecleaning? done!

only things left for me to do would be to tenderize the lengua I'm preparing for tomorrow night's noche buena and send out the e-cards to various friends and relatives.

My mother in law and her two spinster sisters will be spending noche buena at our home in Novaliches (my parents' place) and there'll be turkey, gravy, salad, leg of ham, and all sorts of goodies to eat

The lengua will be my contribution. MIL also bought some a ball of fiesta ham as their hostess gift. Knowing my dad, he'll probably whip up some pasta dishes and soup in addition to having his oh so yummy pot roast in the oven.

My brother Pao will probably be baking all day tomorrow. His cookies and mini cakes are really quite good. He's the baker in the family. me? The last time I tried baking, the oven had this loud backdraft that fairly burnt off the eyebrows of my uncle who I asked to please light up the oven and tossed off the stovetop with the force if its explosion...that was the beginning and end of my baking attempts  

To this day, I have a phobia of lighting "stranger" stoves and ovens.

We'll be taking two cars tomorrow i guess. i'll be driving the honda while Derrick will have to drive the pick-up. We'll be taking Soda along coz : 1. I do not want to leave her alone over night and 2. She goes bonkers at the sound of firecrackers...and you know how Filipinos just loooove setting off them noisy, smelly things every time there's an occasion  

I just hope Derrick gets the Honda fixed as there's something wrong with its timing or the way it burns oil I think. The motor keeps running for about a minute or two even after we've taken the key out of the ignition. It also revs up without anyone stepping on the gas so it's pretty much burning a hole through our pockets with the gas it consumes.

I tried driving it the other day and I found it difficult to temper coz it speeds up more than I intend it to with every step on the gas. I suppose we'll have to leave a bit earlier here tomorrow as I expect the traffic will be perfectly monstrous by early evening. The thing is I've got some stuff I need to do so the best we could probably do is leave here by 5pm or so. Ah well. 

Happy Christmas everyone!