Happy Halloween, Happy Birthday!

October is the busiest time for us in terms of birthdays. There's my younger brother Doods on the 13th (he's working in the middle east right now), then there's me on the 27th, then my father on the 29th, and finally my older brother Dennis on the 30th. After which we celebrate All Saints Day and All Souls Day.

Our dearly departed are quite far from us; they're in Dagupan and in Marinduque, the provinces of my father and mother, respectively. So what we do at this time of the year is to simply light up candles at the strike of 6PM on Nov 1. When we were kids, we would simply light up a candle per room and the corners of the house outside to guide wandering spirits on their way. But we liked the candle lighting ceremony so much that we decided to kindle more candles than necessary. Up in Crystal Cave where my parents live, we'd create a path of light on both sides of the winding pathway leading to the house. Soon our neighbors joined in the fun too.

This year though, we weren't able to go so we simply lit candles in our home at Camp 8 while my mother-in-law sent us rice cakes.

The weekend after Halloween, my wife celebrated her birthday! That was November 4. The day before and the morning of the day itself was a frenzy of activity as we prepared for the afternoon party. It was just a small gathering actually, with a few friends and family members.

My sister helped us prepare this delicious pancit!

Jo-Lo was thrilled to have his cousins visit him and was quite exhausted by the time the party slowed down. Til next year, baby Jo-Lo!