different but it's Christmas all the same

star printed sweater dress - thrifted | blue tights - gifted | flap booties - shopyapi.com |
fedora hat - metro ayala | dog tag necklace - custom made | brown sunnies - downtown find |
oversized ring - downtown find | work watch - gifted by my dad

true, this year was a different Christmas than all the others i've spent. for one, i missed a whole lot of misa de gallo because of work. i shopped too late for gifts because i was waiting for additional funds -- like, 3 days before Christmas and i'm not done yet. it was the first time i decorated our tree on my own because my mom got sick with flu and it was already December 20 -- Christmas is not complete without an overly decorated tree in our house. we didn't have a big noche buena like we used to but my sisters (and i helped a little) cooked yummy seafood and hungarian pasta and we had our fill of my tita's home-made ham. lastly, we didn't open gifts after midnight because we didn't wrap our gifts this year. to sum it all up, my Christmas was a lot simpler than it used to but you know what? what mattered most is that i had 85% of my family complete --- with my little sister back from Australia but minus Harry who was in Bohol with his family. being in the company of people who will love you unconditionally is still the best Christmas one can have. i am, indeed, lucky. ♥

merry christmas everyone! ♥