At the beach, our group borrowed a small nipa hut. There were some other local families, also enjoying beach parties. It's at the beautiful Mactan beachside, but nobody was actually swimming. Everybody continued --eating. We even brought "our piggy", bare in ribs (where the tasty, fatty, most herby-flavorful meat is), face still uninjured. In these 24 hours, I grew so familiar with her face, with closed eyes and opened month (as a steel pole was penetrated from mouth for several hours before getting mouth-watering golden-brown). Of course, it's because I spent most of the time together with her. "Christmas gathering" was close to "sleepless eating".

I was so unexpectedly replete. In a way, I had been freed from health-related knowledge after arriving in the Philippines. I noticed that I had been brainwashed by the "low-fat, low-calorie & exercise" philosophy when I lived in Japan and in California. In the Philippines, especially around the holiday season, it was absolutely impossible to choose food (or choose not to eat). There was no choice but to eat and eat all the cholesterol and sugar. But it was mentally much healthier, I thought. From early December, I didn't even feel guilty for having parties during Advent, either. There were more smiles and laughing. Though I had some medical warnings a half a year later, and had to go back to a health-conscious life with additional cholesterol restrictions, the Christmas feast in Cebu was a good memory. In a way, the people were "healthier" than I was.