Our Family Sundays

Sundays for our family is always a  special day, not only because it is a holy day of obligation, but because it was always a day spent for family bonding. Our Sundays would always begin with peparing to go to mass in the morning. We would always catch the 8:00 a.m. or 9:00 a.m. mass at our parish church or at another church if my parents have plans of  eating lunch outside. During my elementary  days,  would always attend Sunday mass  as  a  family. My parents  taught us to pray the rosary together as a family and to go to Sunday mass together as a family.

After attending Sunday mass, we would visit my maternal  grandparents. We never missed to visit the parents of my mother every Sunday. My fathers parents lived beside our house, so we see them everyday, and we do not need to visit them.

After the visit to my grandparents, we would often go to Cubao in Quezon City and eat lunch at a Chinese restaurant called Hong Nings. As a little child, I always looked forward to having lunch at Hong Nings. We would clap our hands with delight each time my father would announce that we would have lunch at  Hong  Nings.  My personal  favorite was the crispy noodles with seafoods and vegetable toppings. It goes with soy sauce and  calamansi as condiments. Our other favorite Chinese dishes were the   sweet and sour pork, yang chow  fried  rice and birds nest soup or Nido  soup. After lunch, we would go to an arcade where there are go carts for rent. Me and my brothers always enjoyed riding on those go carts even if it was just for a few minutes.

On  other ocassions,  we would eat  at a  restaurant called Bonanza   that was located along Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue. Our family car then was an old  Mercedes Benz. Sometimess we would use  the military jeep, which was owned  by the fishing  company where my father used to work as the operations manager. The highway then  was  not  crowded.  There were  only a  few vehicles on the road and there was no traffic. Sometimes if there were special ocassions like  birthday celebrations, my grandparents would join us for those special meals we shared as a family.

When my grandparents from both my mothers and fathers side passed away, and my siblings all got married, we still continued the tradition of having lunch together as a family. We would often have lunch at my parents house in Malabon, where only my father and mother have been left after my youngest sibling got married. If there were special ocassions like birthdays  or anniversaries, we would sometimes eat at a Chinese or  Japanese restaurant, my father and mothers favorite.

After my  father passed away,  our Sunday family gatherings  still continued,  although less frequently than before. We would still have lunch together as a family, especially on special ocassions. If we could not be complete on a particular ocassion, we each took time to visit my mother, and treat her out for lunch on our most convenient date and time.