"Growing up, we would go to 10pm mass on Christmas Eve. We would then wait until the stroke of midnight to greet everyone Merry Christmas and open gifts. I remember Christmas being so magical as a child that my parents even woke us up in the middle of the night just to have a glimpse of Santa Claus exiting our home and running by the swimming pool.

Nowadays, Justin and I are trying to recreate that same magic for our children, Hunter and Siena. It begins with decorating the Christmas tree as a family in November and opening an advent calendar filled with books. That means it’s one book a day from December 1 to 24. Since the children are young, we decided to prepare milk, cookies and reindeer food on Christmas Eve and open gifts on Christmas morning in matching pajamas. The kids wake up to Santa’s snow footprints, half-drunk milk, and lots of reindeer mess!

This year, with the help of Eventique Manila, we decided to go with a red and white candy cane theme. We filled the tree with ribbons, balls, Santa hats, stockings and bears. I enjoy switching things up! But in order to change it up every so often and not have to worry about storing a tree and decorations the whole year, we decided to rent them from Eventique Manila. I was particular about making the kids decorate the tree so they set up the tree with lights and left the decorations on the side for the kids to put up this year. I have always wanted to create a tree skirt with the handprints of the kids stamped on it every year. I’ll try and get around to doing it next year. Justin’s mom is always kind enough to send us an ornament every year so that’s something we are collecting as well. This year, my mom is gifting us with a family trip to Japan with my mom and my dad (and their spouses) and my brother and his wife. Our family is definitely growing and after 2.5 years isolated in Australia, the best only gift that matters to me is time and connection with the ones I love.”

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“Growing up in New York, we only had my nuclear family around. No grandparents, uncles, aunts or cousins. Every Christmas, we always came to Manila and spent it with our extended family. It was always a treat to see everyone. To this day, our Christmases are focused on family. We have Christmas Eve dinner and Noche Buena with my in-laws, and Christmas Day lunch with my side. My children are growing up knowing all of their extended family and I hope they keep that tradition when they have families of their own. My Christmas tree is much like me. It’s kind of subtle, earthy colors and not too shiny, yet still over the top, being 15 feet tall! I don’t change my tree decor yearly, however, I do add new ornaments, and subtract some old ones.As for my greatest gift this Christmas, it’s really health. My family has personally lost many relatives and friends to COVID. Even though it is finally waning, my greatest wish is for everyone to stay healthy—wealthy and wise would be a bonus!”

“As children, my sister and I would partake in decorating the Christmas tree together with our parents at the beginning of the holidays. With classic Christmas tunes playing in the background, we would spend hours embellishing our tree with beautiful, delicate and whimsical ornaments. This tradition and family moment has always been something I hold close to my heart and now get to enjoy with my own children. Classic with soft silvers and gold would best describe my tree. The base decor usually doesn’t change very much, but I do like to mix up some of the main baubles every year to make things a little more exciting! Some years we stick to a neutral palette with more rustic decorations, other years we glam it up and add in more red and gold ornaments! Each year we collect ornaments from trips that we hang up on the tree. Each of these ornaments represent a place and a special moment in time with my family. I cherish these ones the most. My greatest gift this season would be meaningful and heartfelt moments with my loved ones.”