Weekend Story: Happy Fiesta, Peñaranda!

The hubby and I traveled to my hometown in Nueva Ecija last weekend. We were joined by Mame, my aunt Yolly, and my MIL. It was MIL’s first time to visit Peñaranda and do the fiesta thing with us. By fiesta thing, I meant hopping from one house to another to eat and socialize. I’m glad that our trip went smoothly and safely.

Catching up with relatives and friends is always fun. Doing it during the fiesta (read: Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi) is even more so because the atmosphere is festive and there’s lots of scrumptious food on the table. We sometimes even get to take home some food because our relatives and friends say so. (So sweet of them!) And because there’s too many houses to visit with so little time, it is inevitable that a friend makes “tampo” to Mame because she has too many friends in Peñaranda (even if it’s my father’s hometown, not hers) and she usually promises to visit them all. Haha.

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Weekend Story: Birthday + Family Reunion + Quezon Memorial Circle + Meet-Up with Friends

Last weekend was super fun. The hubby and I, along with my SIL Albie stayed overnight in Bacoor on Friday. By Saturday afternoon, we were already back in Manila. The hubby and I joined my side of the family in driving up to Antipolo to attend the 70th birthday celebration of my aunt which doubled as a family reunion for the Mabalays. The venue was the sprawling garden of her son’s new family home. Each of the nine sibling’s family was there so it was epic. Have I mentioned before my father had eight siblings? Actually, there were supposedly 10 of them but one died when he was a still a baby and currently, there are only five of them still alive and kicking.

Personally, I am grateful to the Villanueva family (the birthday celebrant’s family) for hosting the party and hopefully, there’ll be more occasions like that to happen in the future. Nothing beats being with people who are close to your heart. Even if we don’t see each other often because of distance, we get updated on social media naman and make sure to be there for each other whenever necessary. Last Saturday night was a testament that our family ties are still as strong as ever.

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