A Quick Trip to Cebu for our Family Reunion

Last month, we attended our family reunion in Cebu and saw some relatives once again (after a long time). Our trip was short and sweet, but we had fun. It would have been nice to stay longer, but we had scheduled commitments that same week, so we had to fly back to Manila right after.

The venue was at Marco Polo Plaza in Cebu (Lahug). It's a beautiful hotel away from the city, about 50 minutes from the airport. If you're traveling to Cebu and want to stay somewhere less busy, you might want to consider staying here. It's big, nice, and cozy. They have great service too.

Anyhow, look at this beautiful Christmas tree inspired by Filipino culture. Lovely!

So going back, the reunion was a successful 2-day event. There were presentations, performances, intermission numbers, and games. Kudos to our elders who took the time and effort to bring us together again. They were really inspiring. I think it's great how they kept encouraging us to remain in touch with our roots. Importante na hindi tayo makalimot sa pinanggalingan natin, pati sa mga ancestors natin.

I felt a greater appreciation for my roots on my father's side during this reunion. There were many generations on that single occasion (I belong to the 5th gen).

On the first day, we had our family mass, followed by a good program. We wore our clan shirts in the morning, and then changed to our retro outfits at night. It was cool. The floor was open for line dancing, there were presentations from our seniors, and some background information about our family (this was interesting). We also had a fantastic host with a good sense of humor, his name is "Baroy".

Went to the bar after the program to have a quick chat with cousins. I think we finished at 1 AM. We had to sleep right away after that because the next day's program starts in the morning.

For the second day, we watched the Paradela youth perform. There was a talent show and an open bar in the evening, but we didn't get to catch everything anymore since we had to leave in the afternoon for our flight back to Manila.

Overall, it was a fun experience. I'm already looking forward to the next one, hopefully with my other cousins who were absent this year (they're overseas). It would have been more enjoyable with them.

So I guess that's all for today. Thanks for reading this post, and I hope you stick around. Feel free to browse the blog for more write-ups. Happy holidays! 🎄

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