Clan’s bonding

Christmas was five days ago, but it is still the Christmas season. For the Christian world, it means remembering and honoring the birth of Christ. For most of us, it is always a joyous celebration with family and friends.  The string of tragedies that hogged the headlines even on Christmas day itself is heart-breaking, but nevertheless it is still the season of love and giving, the season for forgiving and sharing.

Let us not forget to share our blessings especially with those families who lost so much in recent times. And let us not pass up the chance to relish the spirit of Christmas with our loved ones.

Having said that, I’m sure most Filipino families spent their Christmas day with the yearly reunion of the clan.  Our family was no different—the Gamboa clan meets up every Christmas day in our humble home and it is always a joy to see generations, now numbering four, troop gaily to touch base, eat and drink merrily, and share stories of their own families.  The children of several years back now have their own toddlers in tow, but the tradition of this annual family reunion has not been broken.

Even the food that we serve has largely been the same over the years. This year, however,  we chose to do away with the roasted prime rib and the ubiquitous lechon – which always took center stage, but not the ever-present kare kare.  That would have been a major disaster for most of the clan who always look forward to the dish every Christmas day, thanks to my Mom’s legacy and recipe.

The pata and ox tail, tripe and intestine tenderized and simmered in a thick peanut sauce over several hours never fails to be a big hit. Cooking kare kare for about 50 people is not a joke, but we would gladly do it again next year, if only to hear the burps and see the smiles on everyone’s faces.

This year, my mother-in-law again cooked her specialty, Mechado, which also delighted everyone. This dish, too, is simmered for as long as five hours in fresh tomatoes and tomato sauce, according to my wife, mom, to ensure tenderness. The end result is beef that can be pulled apart so easily, swimming in reddish oil.   It was always a toss-up between the kare kare and the mechado and almost all of the guests end up with a change of plate to savor both dishes.  Home-made roast pork, a perennial favorite in our home, took the place of the lechon and it was well worth the seven hours of roasting in the oven to see how the big family embraced the lechon substitute.  It was hearty eating once again for this annual family reunion, well worth the labor and work of love in the kitchen for two straight days.

This year too, the young adults in the family cooked up a storm by way of games which everyone could participate in, and win some prizes to boot.  Imagine that the lowly ‘Bato Bato Pick’, a popular childhood game, has been transformed into a party game that as many as 30 people or even more can join.  Each participant is given P50 and the pairs just play one round of the game. All the losers surrender their money to the victors who, in turn, play against each other to end up with just two pairs at the finals. A best- of- five game determines the winner who goes home with as much as P5,000, just by playing the easy game of bato-bato-pick. In office parties, I heard that winners go home with as much as P15,000 or more because of so many participants. It’s very simple, but a lot of fun indeed and even the very shy ones can join in.

We had other games for the millenials, but the one that was also so much fun is the Pinoy Henyo which was popularized by the TV show Eat Bulaga and has been adopted by so many companies in their office parties. It is so popular that they even have an app for this on the cell phones now, and I never knew until our party that night.  We still do it in our yearly company parties after all these years and the fun and excitement have not waned. This year, because we had so many young adults, it was a contest not defined by families, but by gender and that made it even more competitive.

Family reunions on Christmas day will always be a part of our Filipino tradition and I hope it will never disappear. “Sana may forever”, in this case at least. For some families, they hold it on New Year’s Day, (when we’ll have another reunion with my brother Rey hosting), but whatever works for you, I hope it will be a tradition that will be passed on to the next generation and the next. 

Have a blessed, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Mabuhay!!!  Be proud to be a Filipino.

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