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Click HERE to watch the video. You may also click on the photo above.

This is my second time to participate in a contest, and I’m excited to do this on the first day of 2018 – to which this post is very much in line with.

(My first contest is on making a short story, so you may want to check it out as here. I’ll be glad for your support on that as well).

The mission

The mechanics were simple. All I need to do as a participant is to share how we celebrated 2018. A valid entry will then be considered if this simple requirement is met.

All thanks to the generosity of @anomadsoul that this contest was made possible (together with the help of @blocktrades.

A good opportunity to sharpen skills

This contest provided me an avenue to somehow begin improving my skills with capturing and editing videos. I want to share the Steemit community how we celebrate New Year here in the Philippines. Unfortunately, for this, I was only able to use my mobile phone. Hopefully, it’s still a good starting point.

Our welcoming of 2018

I captured the highlights of our family celebration, and decided to make a video out of it. In this way, we have something to look back to – after all, memories remain priceless as long as you remember them.

Disclaimer: There are several ways we Filipinos celebrate New Year. However, this are just the things my family hails as tradition each eve of New Year.

Now, for those who finds it difficult to watch the video, I’ll also be sharing with you a documentation of how our day went. It was a blast!

Food preparation for Dinner and Post-Dinner

Filipinos are hefty foodies. Almost all occasions are celebrated with a fiesta. Our family is no different. We began our preparation about 1:00 PM – my younger brother gathered the ingredients for the Cheesecake, while my sister did the same for his Truffle Mac & Cheese. Yummm, sounds like a cheesy dinner! My mom also started preparing all the needed ingredients for our hotpot dinner. All the others helped out which made this activity a family bonding experience. Music is also playing as we prepared.

Ohh, by now you might be getting confused about which dinner I’m pertaining to. Alright, I’ll briefly explain.

It’s our tradition to have our dinner as usual which is around 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. For this we planned to have Chinese hotpot and Cheesecake.

This is then followed by another feast at 12:00 MN in celebration of the New Year. A pasta dish is a must for my family, which is why we had the Truffle Mac & Cheese together with the Lechon Belly my mom ordered + all other smaller dishes.

For intervals, we just sit around over a movie of our choice. It’s an effective and fast way of “burning” time as we wait for the countdown.

A home away from home

By the way, it’s also part of our tradition to celebrate Christmas and New Year in the province. This is a common tradition for most Filipinos. Since most of our cousins are here, it was also an opportunity for us to catch up and just have fun. Of course, there were drinks and a bit of booze.

Fireworks from afar

It’s not common for us Filipinos to gather in a central square and watch fireworks display, so there is usually simultaneous fireworks going on in the area. We didn’t prepare any, so we just glanced from our windows. This way, we are not contributing pollution. We’re actually benefiting from an “externality”.

Since it was a night of catching up, we stayed up late. However, the booze is kicking in and I suddenly felt exhaustion. I bid good night at 2:00 AM while others stayed up to 4:00 AM. It was definitely a night of fun, laughter and love.

There you go! Thanks for reading or watching (or both)! Again, I want to thank @anomadsoul for this contest opportunity. Feel free to follow me at @anotsopopularkid. If you enjoyed this post, it won’t hurt hitting the upvote and resteem button. Thank you very much and have a Steemy 2018!

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