Christmas Day with Pacman

This is the first time I spent Christmas day away from Manila and away from my family. I was with my brother Charles though so technically I was still with family. It was an experience that was all worth it.

I left Manila on Christmas Eve after attending our family Noche Buena. In fact, I had two Noche Buenas because I arrived LA on the 24th still. Because I didn't have a ride from the airport, the very kind Pambansang Kamao, who was on the same flight with his 3 playful kids, offered me a ride in his Lincoln Navigator together with Jinkee to his Palazzo apartment where we spent Christmas eve eating and playing games. The first game was a drinking contest and I won a hundred bucks. Actually there were three of us, and we tied so we all got $100 a piece. We kept laughing and laughing all night! We were about 30 to 40 people in his condo. The second game was so unique that you won't see it very often during Christmas day. It involved a Christmas tree decorated with dollar bills, denominated in $1000, $500, $200, $100, $50 and $20. as seen in the picture. When your name is called, you pick a sheet of paper from the box that Manny is holding then whatever amount is written on the paper, that's the amount you pick out from the Christmas tree. Everyone gets to win something. I won $100 and Charles won $20 (The only $20 sheet out of about 100, talk about luck!) Haha! This is just one of the many giving sprees of SANTAcquiao and this is why he is showered with many blessings and victories.

Christmas Day. This is what ultimately convinced me to fly to the US for the holidays. After hearing Christmas mass in his room, we rushed to the Staples center together with about 30 people to catch the first Boston Celtics vs LA Lakers game after the NBA finals last year. This is the first time I felt what it was like to be part of an entourage of an international star! Of course, he got special parking because he is Manny Pacquiao. He had reserved a VIP suite that could fit all of us. ALthough it was a bit high, the view was still good enough to get a glimpse of Kobe, Ray Allen, Pierce, Garnett and the rest. Food and drinks were being served too! I like Boston because of Rey Allen but I'm still a bigger Lakers fan because of Kobe. And i somehow had a hunch that they were going to stop the longest winning streak of Boston in their franchise history. And they did! It was a fantastic game, quite energizing considering it was an elimination round game. Kobe had 27 points and he was just so fun to watch!








Before leaving the Staples Center, of course we had to take a picture with the statue of the man from who was last responsible for the success and stardom of this man we call Pacman. It was truly a Christmas that will be remembered many many years from now. Not only did we get to watch the world's greatest active basketball player but also we get to watch it with ESPN's Fighter of the Year for 2008 and the Philippine's Sportsman of the year for 2008.