December 12, 2o19
Last year we had our Christmas lunch at Manila House in BGC. We didn’t have a Christmas program. It was a simple kwentuhan, exchange gifts, and eating. Eto yung they became paranoid that their blood pressure could be elevated so they called for a nurse to check their BPs. Tempers also became heated after the restaurant didn’t want to honor the seniors’ card. Manila House refused to give us food discount.
This year, I was the one in charge of our Christmas party. We booked the private room at the Makati Garden Club for a minimum consumable charge of P40,000++. Our secretariat, Russel, informed the officers that NO SENIOR CITIZEN DISCOUNTS could be applied for private functions.
Instead of a buffet, we opted to have plated meals and stay seated, tamad na kami tumayo.
While I was in Baguio, I prepared some props for the parlor games.
I asked for a P3,000 grand prize budget. Ang tipid. It’s for fun lang naman. Chiqui donated 10 books, Atty. Kapunan also brought gifts and books. We all brought something for the raffle and exchange gifts. Five hundred pesos was the minimum exchange gift. Mine cost P1,000++ which I bought from the EchoStore in Podium.
I suggested green to be our color motif but I realized wala napala akong green na dress so I just brought a green shawl.
For the grand prize, with a P3,000 budget, what could I possibly buy that could be split among 7 highly-successful women? Something that they would love to bring home, and not recycle and give away? I thought long and hard. Aha!!!! I bought 7 garlands of Ilocos garlic (bawang) from a sidewalk stall along Pozorrubio in Pangasinan. One string was P200 but they gave it me for P180 each.
7 individually wrapped Ilocos garlic. I was confident they would love this.
I paid P188 for two packs of paper cups, and some props from National Bookstore for P295. Plus the gift wrapper and ribbon, about a hundred pesos.
Chiqui’s group won the grand prize.
I got this beautiful native bag from the exchange gift. This was from Atty. Lorna Kapunan. That morning while I sat in the traffic on my way to Makati Garden Club, I was counting the number of handbags I had bought this year, 2019. 13 pieces in all. I told myself that for 2020 I would buy locally-made handbags or those made of local materials including canvass. In December 2018, I thought of spoiling myself, just one of those crazy thoughts, that’s why I allowed myself to splurge a little on bags. For 2020, I will buy more locally-made bags. No more buying of imported bags. This year, it’ll be more of using the bags I already have. I still have two or three bags in my cabinet that I haven’t even used. For 2020, my motto would be to refrain from buying, re-use, recycle, use canvass, kahit ano, kahit walang brand.
Jeannie won in the first game. Boots said it was so easy,
Pacita “Chit” Juan (Co-founder of ECHOstore) and director of Coffee Board), Atty. Benedicta Du-Balabad (founder of BDB Law), Sabsy Palanca (president of The Mother Company), Sec. Imelda Nicolas (former Chairperson of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas)
Seated beside Atty. Kapunan was Ambassador Delia Albert
Our Ladies of Garlic
(left to right) Cathy Turvill (president of Nature Spa in Tagaytay City), Aurora “Boots” Geotina- Garcia (president of CIBA Capital Philippines), Monette Iturralde-Hamlin (president of Team Asia), Chiqui Escareal-Go (CEO of Mansmith and Fielders), Atty. Lorna Patajo-Kapunan (founder of Kapunan and Castillo Law Offices, and was recently recognized as one of the Top Lawyers in the Philippines), Annie C. Tan-Yee (works part-time at Makati Ford, founder of Garlic Lovers Association of the Philippines), Cynthia Mamon (COO of Enchanted Kingdom), (front row) – Jeannie Javelosa (co-founder of ECHOstore Sustainable Lifestyle together with Chit Juan and Reena Francisco), and Mylene Abiva (President of FELTA Multi-Media).
We had so much fun.
