At midnight on Christmas Eve, we all sat around the table and my friend's father said grace. Then, we began (or continued again) to eat until we were full. The street outside was filled with firecrackers and fireworks. It was so loud that we had difficulty talking inside the house. I have never heard such an endless barrage of explosions; I even feared that a riot had broken out. My friend told me that many children lose fingers or get burned during the Christmas and New Year chaos. And the bad part is, the good doctors enjoy spending time with their families, so these poor holiday patients are left to be practice for the medical students.

Next morning, we opened the gifts. Miss C (another guest, a young Korean woman) and I (a Japanese born in rural Shiga prefecture), who both happened to be born into Catholic families, expected we would all go to the parish Church. But my friend's father said, "it is dangerous and chaotic outside. No, no, not so special, it's an every-year thing, because it's Christmas! You two are foreigners and would be targets. Besides, Christmas Mass is in Visayan, so you relax at home." Only two of the family members went to Christmas Mass. This was rather remarkable for me, as it was my first time not to attend Christmas Mass, and I was in the most Catholic country in Asia. So we started -- eating again, this time, breakfast.

After a heavy breakfast, complete with rich native chocolate (drink), two other relative families joined us and we all went to Hadsun Beach on Mactan Island, Cebu. My friend's sister told me "this is a family tradition. It's better to get out of the house on holidays. We can enjoy ourselves, not entertaining endless guests or giving alms to poor people." Once her mother gave some Christmas gifts to beggars at the door. Then, an hour later, there was a long, long line in front of their gate, and the family had to keep giving "forever." Since that time, December 25 th had become a picnic day.