Happy New Year!

I miss celebrating new year's eve back home in the Philippines. Maybe because it's so quiet where I am now. I miss the noise, the shouting , the laughters, the crying and some funny and not so funny jokes.....I remember having a hard time walking in the streets from early morning because, in every street they begin playing with firecrackers and canyons and the sounds become louder until it's 12 midnight-where they also light all the fireworks in the skies.

In my family, all of us (I have six siblings) celebrate new year's eve in our maternal home. We don't go so much with traditional food and anyone can bring foods that they wanted to share. And there's so much to choose from in the table. I like it when we have lechon de leche(little whole or head of pig roasted in either a big oven from a bakery or in a charcoal where a long bamboo stick is stucked in the pig's body) and salads of different kinds and soup made by mother. You can also find 7 different kinds of round fruits(we are so much into symbolic things whatever) . We also put a lot of coins in our pockets and jump at the same time, turn on all the lights, open all the windows-at the stroke of 12 midnight. After celebrating at home that it's either our neighbors come to our house or we all go and visit them to greet everybody.

There is also this very united neighborhood in a long street(it is closed for vehicles to pass by) and would decorate the whole street with different kinds of decorations hanging all the way from the beginning to the end. Every house will put up their tables and connect it with the next one and set up their foods for dinner and everybody share their food to everyone.

And about the illustration - I have made this some days ago in time for today's celebration. I was imagining myself when I was younger . After I have finished this- that I have asked myself why am I alone in the drawing-well everybody maybe out of sight in the scene because it's either I miss everybody or I cannot have everybody in the drawing and maybe I also don't want to commit the mistake of forgetting anyone. But hey, you are all in my heart wherever you all are.

Anyway, let's all welcome the year 2006 with lots of smiles and hope that it would be a much better year than what we have had in 2005.