Does Santa Come to the Philippines?
Yes Santa does come to the Philippines on Christmas but the photo ops are few. The Malls are all owned by Chinese companies who don't celebrate Christmas but they do close on New Years Day. So on Christmas Day afternoon, you can visit a weary Santa at SM City Mall and have your picture taken.
But there were a special few who had their picture taken with Santa aka Elder Dansie at the Kalikid Branch Christmas Party. The lights went dim, the music blarred "Here Comes Santa Claus" and Santa arrived with Apples, Candy Canes and treat for anyone who would sit on his lap. It was the first time that Santa had attended a Kalikad Christmas party ever. There were no less than 10 cameras trained on every child as they visited Santa. The 25 apples were gone in 20 minutes.
It was a chore to find a Santa suit, but we found a dress rental shop on the 2nd floor of the public market who also had some Santa Suits. The largest one almost fit so we rented it for 500 pesos ($10) for 3 days. The beard looked like it was made out of the twisted fibers of a mop so hard to fool anyone over 4 years old.
Christmas Conferences
Two Christmas Conferences were held on the 23rd and 24th. One for the missionaries on the Cabanatuan side and the other for the Tarlac side missionaries. The morning was filled with instruction. Lunch was catered and it's amazing how quickly 100+ missionaries can fill a plate heaped with rice, chicken, vegetables and more. Afterwards, each zone brought a contribution to decorate the Christmas tree. Decorations ranged from tree topping stars that were half the size of the tree to pop bottle ornaments to a fully lighted "Merry Christmas" placque.
Then the senior Couples took over and created 4 stations for 4 groups to rotate. The Dansie's set up 3 activity do-it-yourself areas (1) Decorate and eat a sugar cookie, (2) Christmas coloring and (3) Photo booth with Elder Dansie being the photographer. We had an assortments of hats, leis, flowers and props for companionships to don making the photos light hearted keepsakes.
The missionaries from America spread the icing and sprinkles so thick the first day that we had to go buy another 2 kilo bag of powdered sugar. Many of the local missionaries found the sugar overload surprising and their American companion finished them off.
More program and when ready to leave, the entire cultural hall floor was covered with Christmas packages from home. The largest came on DHL and measured 30x30x30 inches. The freight must have been pretty steep. Ironically, it was for an Elder in Baler who got to lug the package to the terminal and a 4 hour bus ride home.
Birthday Party
The Cabanatuan zone missionaries, including the Dansie's were invited to a spaghetti / chicken lunch for a cute 6 year old member. Everyone ate fast and were back to work in 30 minutes.
All I want for Christmas is a Power Saw
We needed 2 sheets of plywood cut to go on bed frames to keep the mattress from sagging. The plywood wouldn't fit in the Corolla so Elder Dansie jumped in Brother Alan's trike and headed for the lumber store. The first three stores didn't have a way to cut the sheets to size and we didn't have a saw. Finally we found a small back alley shop that sold a limited selection but most important they would cut it for us. We bought 2 sheets, hoisted one on an outside bench. The carpenter drew a line and cut the sheets with amazing accuracy....for about 40 linear feet by hand. We strapped them on the trike and delivered to the missionary apartment. Check that off the list.
Christmas Omelettes
Christmas Eve, we returned from Tarlac Conference about 6:00 pm and decided to stop by Kenny Rogers for a Christmas eve dinner. Their roasted chicken is tasty and plump. Most fast food chicken is breaded deep fried skinny chickens.
A Dansie Christmas tradition is Omelettes and Scone brunch on the 24th. Elder Dansie found some yeast at a specialty baking store and Christmas Day we enjoyed Omelettes and Scones for lunch after attending Church. Our cooking equipment is limited and so the yeast was inadvertently doubled. But when the scones cooked, they were amazingly fluffy. Anyone holding the infamous scone recipe should double the yeast and stand back as they expand in the pan. These may be the first western style scones ever cooked in Cabanatuan.