The Time-Travelling Gift Box

"Wow, has it been 7 years ago already? I can still remember Jo-Lo's celebration in Baguio when he turned 1!", one of our friends exclaimed when she saw the photo we tagged her in Facebook where Jo-Lo was opening the gift from her.

It's a gift that was given to Jo-Lo for his 7th birthday... when he turned 1.  On his first birthday, we thought it would be fun if the guests also brought along a small gift which Jo-Lo will open when he turned 7!  Why at 7?  Because it's a milestone birthday for a Filipino boy (the other birthdays are 1 and 21).  And some gamefully wrapped something up, which we stored in an airtight container, to be opened 7 years later.

This is Jo-Lo's Time Travelling Gift Box.

Who would have thought that not only would it time-travel, but it would cross over to another country as well?  When we visited the Philippines back in 2010, we brought along some stuff back with us here to New Zealand, and the gift box was one of them.

We couldn't help but smile and reminisce that this box and its contents are now 7 years old.  I was actually thinking that on Jo-Lo's 7th birthday we would ask the guests to bring something again for when he turns 13 (officially a teenager).  But who would have thought we'd be celebrating his 7th in another country?


The gifts were all wonderful and amazing.  There's a Science Workbook, a pair of goggles, a couple of toys from Jollibee all the way from 2006, a couple of jeepneys, a Spongebob Squarepants toy, a number of Disney characters, and even Jo-Lo's lock of hair which was cut when he turned 1!

As we read the greetings, we wondered how funny it might have felt for the guests to be writing 7th birthday greetings for Jo-Lo at that time!

This one's a wonderful surprise!

Jo-Lo's lock of hair in a Bible

This jeepney became even more meaningful, as we are now in another country.  There's another jeepney, this time labelled Boracay where we used to go every other year with friends.  What thoughtful gifts!

I'm so glad we did this Time Travelling Gift Box.  It felt like our friends were here with us as we celebrated Jo-Lo's birthday.