After the excitement of Christmas, and our collective healths taking a turn for the worse, we took a slow start knowing that the day would be a very long one.
Mommy and Little Nio still snuggled up in bed, catching a few more precious moments of sleep after a long fitful night of coughing and sneezing. Little Nio was running a fever, but he was able to sweat it off and get a bit better later that day.
All dressed up and ready for the big family reunion! Little Nio and his Mommy sitting in the garden waiting for the guests to arrive.
Among the first guests to arrive are Little Nio's nephew, Andre (son of my niece Erika and her husband Gersh King), carried by his cousin Ate Carissa. I know that this gets extremely confusing and one of these days I am going to spend time and map out the family tree on something outrageously sophisticated like genebase.
Photos of the other guests, starting with Tito Louie and Lolo Mon.
Here is Ate Arianna, with her mother Tita Andie, and Tita Lisa.
Another table with Kuya Don. seated with his parents Tita Amy and Tito Manny, with Lolo Jun at the other end in a bright red shirt.
Here's Lola Nene standing beside Tita Pat carrying their daughter, and seated beside them is Tita Leah.
The two young ladies seated very quietly here are Little Nio's niece, Ate Carmen (daughter of my niece, Ate Marica) at left, and his cousin Ate Paris (daughter of my cousin, Tita Liana) seated on the right.
Just before the real fun begins, Little Nio and his Mommy decide to do a bit of pretend tree climbing in Lolo Jun's garden. A rare smile from our serious son.
Some opening remarks from Lolo Jun, welcoming everyone to the reunion and acknowledging the presence of everyone there and thanking them all for taking the time to come and get together.
Standing above the assembled clan on the right, Tita Pia (wearing blue), organizes the events for the reunion. The activities start off with a bit of family and Christmas trivia with prizes for the winners, followed by a gift roulette game played by dice, culminating in a traditional pabitin for the younger children.
Let the games begin!
With participants standing around a table laden with gifts, they take turns rolling a pair of dice. Odd numbers do nothing and they pass the turn, but even numbers allow the participant to take any gift from the pile. A natural roll of double six allows the participant to take two gifts from the pile.
Once all the gifts from the pile are taken another round starts again, but not before everyone unwraps the gifts they've taken from the pile. Now everyone can see what everyone else has and the real fun starts. On this second round odd numbers still do nothing, but an even numbered roll (2-4-6-8-10-12) allow you to take a gift from anyone else. I don't remember if you can take two gifts on a natural roll of a double six.
Time for the pabitin! A wooden frame filled with various toys and goodies, held by a rope is lowered to the participating children who then make a grab for these wonderful gifts. The fun is when the frame is lowered just barely out of reach of the screaming and excited children.
We held four rounds of the pabitin, starting with the babies, then the little girls, then the little boys... and finally a free-for-all to make sure that every gift and goody on the frame went to a child.
Here's a photograph of Little Nio's Mommy, she's sporting a pair of LED lights attached to a set of frames that can be worn like eyeglasses. Not all the gifts went to the children. My wife had a wonderful time as well. I think she came out from under the pabitin with a fist full of toys in either hand.
After organizing such a wonderful and memorable set of activities, Tita Pia takes a breather and squeezes in a hug for her husband, Tito Rwin. And then it was time to dig in to the potluck dinner prepared by all. Thank you very much for all the hard work, Tita Pia!
More photographs of the guests, from left-to-right, my cousin Tito Lex, then Tita Maridol and my cousins Tita Pia and Tita Leah.
A very surprised cousin, Tito Raul.
In the foreground are Little Nio's cousins, Kuya Mio and Kuya Nico, who are the sons of Tito Raul and Tita Maridol. Jumping in on the photo at the center is Ate Carissa (daughter of Tita Lisa).
From left-to-right, my cousins Tita Risa and Tita Ginggay, with Little Nio's Lola Vicky, who prepared the most amazing and mouth watering dishes for the potluck dinner. My stomach grumbles at the very thought of the kaldereta she prepared that evening and the scrumptious dessert, which didn't last very long.
Again we have Lola Vicky at left, then Lola Chit (who is Lolo Jun's younger sister) and then Lola Charing (who is Lolo Jun's older sister).
My cousins, Tita Lisa and Tita Andy (daughters of Lola Charing), and with Ate Arianna (daughter of Tita Andy) at the right.
Other cousins of Little Nio, my nieces, starting with Ate Iris (youngest daughter of Tita Ginggay), then Ate Zoe seated behind the laptop (daughter of Tita Pia) and then the two older daughters of Tita Risa.
Here's a rare smiling photograph of Kuya Kiko (son of Tita Risa) another cousin of Little Nio.
My cousin, Tita Leah manages to get in on a lot of the photographs, that's probably because the camera loves her. My cousin, Tito Lex and his wife Tita Pat join her at the table. I wasn't able to catch their twin sons, Marco and Gabby on camera, as boys will be boys, they were running around faster than I could.
This reunion was very special for us all. It was a chance for both Little Nio and my wife Kanittha to meet the rest of the clan. Not everyone was there, but it certainly established the relationships we all share with one another.
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