Christmas Reunions & Carolings

When you still can't feel the Christmas spirit, sometimes all you need is to be reminded of the things/people you are grateful for. And maybe it's best to listen to some Christmas songs to go along with them. :)

Our old college organization, Ateneo Christian Life Community (ACLC), caroled for our batch (ACLC 2009) last December 19, 2010. 

They also sang for our batch last year and I must admit, I'm still so envious as I miss being one of the carolers. I miss caroling! I miss ACLC days! I guess I'll always get that nostalgic feeling every Christmas.

So for two years in a row, we have shifted to the other side of caroling. We used to be preoccupied with memorizing lyrics and harmonizing but now, we're part of the food and teasing committee. Hmm... if you come to think of it, it's also fun on the other side. Haha. You get to tease former orgmates to their past love teams and "lovingly bully" the newbies. Haha, we love you guys. :) 

Since I had a whole tub of yogurt at home, RJ and I made Yogurt & Garlic Spaghetti for the occasion (see photo above). It's a Middle Eastern pasta recipe that we got online. It's quite easy to make although I must say the sour and garlic flavors are really strong. It's not the sweet type which the Filipino palate is used to so I got mixed reviews about it. Some really love it while others just kept quiet. Hahaha. Oh well, I had a fun time cooking it with RJ anyway. 

My other batchmates baked cookies, brought chicharon, pizza, barbeque and doughnuts! Yuuum! 

Now on to the other side of caroling, the "more fun side." 

As usual, our dear ACLC carolers made us very proud. They sang so well that evening that we couldn't help but sing along according to our respective voices (soprano, alto, tenor, bass).

They performed most of the usual line up of "Around the World" Christmas songs. They sang songs like the Germany's Stille Nacht, African Noel, Ukranian Carol of the Bells, Philippines' Himig ng Hangin. 

However, they also added a lot of new duets and solo parts to increase our teasing zone. Yaaay! They gave us a lot of opportunity to choose pairs who will sing the duets. Yes, it was seriously teasing time! Hahaha. 

My favorite performance of the night was their version of the mash up between "Paglamig ng Hangin" and "Pasko na Sinta Ko" I have a video of it but they might kill me, so I just embedded the video of one of my favorite ACLCers that I found online. I won't explain further why he's one of my favorite ACLCers. Hahaha. :)

Don't you just love this mash up? :) 

Since we used to carol as well, the current ACLC community bullied us into performing as well. I guess I got what I wanted, we got to be the carolers for a few minutes. After much resistance, we eventually gave in and sang "Have You Heard" and "My Grown Up Christmas List." Haha, we got bullied too!

My Dear ACLC Angel- Soul Family

I walked in that evening with zero Christmas spirit and 100% Christmas stress. But after an evening of love, catching up, bullying, food and Christmas songs, I suddenly had a jolt of Christmas spirit. I guess we just need to be reminded every once in a while why the Christmas stress is worth it. 

Hope you're still enjoying the Christmas season! :)

*thanks to Carla for the 1st two pictures (group pics)

~It's the little sweet notes everyday that matter. :)~