It was my niece's 7th birthday today. Considered as a debut for the kid, we celebrated Kitchie's 7th birthday at Mc Donald's in Vega Center, just before the UP Los Banos gate.
I bathed my 2 kids just before lunch and I took a bath at around 1:30pm. I prepared myself for the children's party. I put on a blue-pink-white stripe blouse and a pair of jeans, fixed my hair and put on some face powder and some lip gloss to moisturize my dry lips---a typical way of fixing myself before leaving the house.
My sister drove the van while my brother drove his pick-up. I was riding with my sister on the van for my husband is at work. I did not drive any car anymore for we could fit in the van already. My kids, my sister's family, my mom and 2 other cousins rode with my sister on the van.
It was drizzling that time. It was around 2:15 in the afternoon when we were dropped off at the McDo entrance in Vega Center as my sister looked for a good parking slot. Mom took care of fetching the 3 kids with an umbrella while me and my teen-age cousin alighted the van last. We just ran towards the food chain entrance without any umbrella at all.
The kids entered the establishment first. They were rushing towards the second floor, where the party will be held. I, my cousin and mom followed.
As we entered the glass door, I noticed 4 kids eating on the table on the right hand corner of the door. They were 2 girls and 2 boys, around 8-10 years of age. They were seated by two's at each row, facing each other on the table. They do not look so rich. They seem to be below average in terms of socio-economic status. It seems their families are not much gifted in terms of material things but they look so happy eating at Mc Donald's. It seems that they were just enjoying the Christmas gifts they received by eating-out at McDo.
The four children were all similing as they were looking at us, as we entered the glass door. Suddenly, one of the girls said, "Ate, ang ganda mo raw, sabi nya!" She was looking at me as she said those words and and she was pertaining to the young boy beside him, who had his back turned on me but his face was looking halfway at me, smiling. He seemed so shy.
Trying to react so that the children would not feel snobbed, I confirmed to the girl about what she said and told her, "Ako ba?" And then the girl said, "Oo, ate, sabi nya, " while pointing at the boy beside him again. I just smiled to them and said "thank you" as I went straight to the second floor to follow my kids and niece.
I want to take it as a joke, or that they just wanted to make fun of me. However, I also know that kids do not know how to make lies and I was so happy to know that even kids apppreciate me. I thought I have changed already, after all the things I've been through lately. But these kids made me feel that there should be nothing to be worried about. Life must go on. With the simple admiration of kids, I appreciated life better! I was also happy to observe that kids, at this state of their lives, enjoy the meaning of the holiday season, in their own, simple ways!
This is a good New Year welcome for me. Tonight, we are hosting a game program for the less fortunate kids around our neighborhood, still all about kids! Instead of lighting firecrackers which would be risky for them, we just host games to keep them busy waiting for new year's eve. Every year, they enjoy the games and the prizes!
I bathed my 2 kids just before lunch and I took a bath at around 1:30pm. I prepared myself for the children's party. I put on a blue-pink-white stripe blouse and a pair of jeans, fixed my hair and put on some face powder and some lip gloss to moisturize my dry lips---a typical way of fixing myself before leaving the house.
My sister drove the van while my brother drove his pick-up. I was riding with my sister on the van for my husband is at work. I did not drive any car anymore for we could fit in the van already. My kids, my sister's family, my mom and 2 other cousins rode with my sister on the van.
It was drizzling that time. It was around 2:15 in the afternoon when we were dropped off at the McDo entrance in Vega Center as my sister looked for a good parking slot. Mom took care of fetching the 3 kids with an umbrella while me and my teen-age cousin alighted the van last. We just ran towards the food chain entrance without any umbrella at all.
The kids entered the establishment first. They were rushing towards the second floor, where the party will be held. I, my cousin and mom followed.As we entered the glass door, I noticed 4 kids eating on the table on the right hand corner of the door. They were 2 girls and 2 boys, around 8-10 years of age. They were seated by two's at each row, facing each other on the table. They do not look so rich. They seem to be below average in terms of socio-economic status. It seems their families are not much gifted in terms of material things but they look so happy eating at Mc Donald's. It seems that they were just enjoying the Christmas gifts they received by eating-out at McDo.
The four children were all similing as they were looking at us, as we entered the glass door. Suddenly, one of the girls said, "Ate, ang ganda mo raw, sabi nya!" She was looking at me as she said those words and and she was pertaining to the young boy beside him, who had his back turned on me but his face was looking halfway at me, smiling. He seemed so shy.
Trying to react so that the children would not feel snobbed, I confirmed to the girl about what she said and told her, "Ako ba?" And then the girl said, "Oo, ate, sabi nya, " while pointing at the boy beside him again. I just smiled to them and said "thank you" as I went straight to the second floor to follow my kids and niece.
I want to take it as a joke, or that they just wanted to make fun of me. However, I also know that kids do not know how to make lies and I was so happy to know that even kids apppreciate me. I thought I have changed already, after all the things I've been through lately. But these kids made me feel that there should be nothing to be worried about. Life must go on. With the simple admiration of kids, I appreciated life better! I was also happy to observe that kids, at this state of their lives, enjoy the meaning of the holiday season, in their own, simple ways!
This is a good New Year welcome for me. Tonight, we are hosting a game program for the less fortunate kids around our neighborhood, still all about kids! Instead of lighting firecrackers which would be risky for them, we just host games to keep them busy waiting for new year's eve. Every year, they enjoy the games and the prizes!
We've been doing this activity for 15 years. The kids who participated has been 2 generations already. The kids, when we started this activity every new year's eve, now have grown up. Some were parents already. Now, the kids of the "old kids" participate in the games!
It is really a nice feeling to help other less fortunate people enjoy and let them have fun! The prizes we give were not much valuable, only candies, chips and some other small tokens, but what is more important is how we trigger then to enjoy the activity, practice sportsmanship and good teamwork. This is what we want to teach the children.
Children who have participated in the activity had been 2 generations already. Probably, next time, the people who will be hosting the games will be the sencond generation as well---the Casino clan children in Los Banos!
31december2008
19:09hrs
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