I have a confession that will surely wound the delicate Christian Filipino feelings of my family: I don't enjoy Christmas. It's been years since I last looked forward to it, perhaps even a decade since I last actually liked it. This realization came to me only relatively recently and I didn't have the courage to admit it until much later because I grew up in a culture that prides on its Christmas traditions. I might as well confess to committing a murder than not liking Christmas.

Of course, Christmas isn't all that bad! I might not enjoy it, but other people do, and it's better to use our energy to spread positive feelings instead of raining on people's parades.

Christmas is a family holiday in the Philippines and, having grown up in this culture, I've always thought it was the same for everyone everywhere in the world. For our family, Christmas meant lots of food and lechon. Mostly lechon. If there's a party, there's always lechon.

This year my mother decided to share our blessings by throwing a small party for the kids at Love the Children Foundation. It's a small place in her hometown that takes care of street children, providing shelter, food, and helping send them to school through donations.

After the party they showed us around the place and they had these really pretty love birds as pets and a little pond thingy of gorgeous goldfish. They 're big and bright orange under the bright sunlight. Too bad I couldn't take a good picture of them.

The kids were funny even if they were a bit too unruly. It was refreshing to watch them actually enjoy the simple games and prizes that would likely bore children used to playing with their electronic gadgets, like my young nephews or that one toddler I saw at the mall who was playing a game on an iPhone. It made me think of how much of a Grinch I am, of how long it has been since I genuinely enjoyed anything like these kids were enjoying the party. Maybe someday I'd like to be reminded of what that feels like.

Anyway, how are you guys spending your holiday? I hope everyone's doing well and getting lots of cool presents!