Remembering the 2006 Christmas Party with the Filipino Communities in New Mexico

What was the ambience of last year's Christmas party with the Filipino communities in New Mexico which I attended?....
The Filipino-American Foundation of New mexico which has its central
office in Albuquerque NM sponsored the annual Christmas party in which I was invited to give the Invocation Prayer.

Well, the following slideshows will somehow give you the idea of what went on with the party!..

Christmas party in a monastic community

last Dec 25, 2005 was our annual Xmas party with the two communities of Benedictine monks and nuns. the party was graced by Jojo naval, a filipino national who just recently arrived from Manila to join work with our Oblate Carlo in the Laboratory Section of Espanyola Hospital here in New Mexico. the party was a routine sort of type where monks and nuns enjoyed food and drinks while being amused by the entertainment numbers presented in the program. it was a simple monastic party.

filipino-american Christmas party

last dec 16, we attended a fil-am xmas party held in Albuquerque. the party was sponsored by the Association of Filipino-American of Northern New Mexico. the party was held at Elegante hotel in downtown Albuquerque.

my first Xmas away from home in year 2002

it was hard for me to deal with a certain feeling of being homesick. reason: i was miles and miles and miles and miles and miles away from my country, my friends and my family. that was the first time ever in my whole life to  spend Xmas without the Simbang gabi, the puto bumbong, the sight of giant Xmas trees and the  giant "BELENS" along  Ayala Avenue Makati, and  so-  being with a new environs, people, and culture- made me felt so terribly homesick. but surprisingly- at the  eve of  December 24,2002 i  was  amused so unexpectedly to realize that a disco party was there to ease me, to make my  sadness go away..so these are just some of  the images  i reproduced for the remembrance of my FIRST  XMAS  AWAY  FROM  HOME...








Farolitos as they call them- are the signs and symbols of  Christmas merry making at the Monastery...and as well as the whole of  the State of New Mexico.

farolitos lit gave light to the vast  cold chilly freezing  evening of  December 24, 2002.

dom Andrew, a vietnamese senior   helps in the lighting of the famous FAROLITOS...

the FAROLITOS in close-up... being lighted one by one...



the cloister garden was filled with FAROLITOS, too...

Xmas disco of monks and nuns in year 2002

This is the 24th night of  December 2002.  my first time ever to spend my xmas away from my country of birth. sadness did not enter my being- at least, nalibang ako sa kakasayaw in the  tune of  Macarena and the like with the monks and nuns of the two Monastic communities here.

tis Xmas program that's the best ever.

dom gabriel ( he  left in 2004) and his two sisters rendering a  xmas song.



the best performers:  doing a  comedy skit that made  us all shed tears in laughter and gas pains in our bellies.. this  is the best hilarious number ever i  saw in my whole life...



a vietnamese nun showing off her skill in vietnamese art of dancing with the sword..







another skit presented but not as comic and funny as the other one that made us   break our  monastic silence and decorum.