Christmas Express

Spent Christmas with Kuya Edward, Kuya Edgar, Ate Awit, Colleen, and Ethan in Murietta. They picked me up at Victoria Gardens (in Rancho Cucamonga) where Ate Epie and the rest of the gang dropped me off. It was a sweet one hour trip from VG to Kuya’s apartment home.

The place was pretty neat with two bedrooms. (Kuya Edgar and I shared Colleen’s room.) They had a small Christmas tree set up in one corner, and the small fireplace was decorated with Christmas stuff, including the kids’ candy socks.

Christmas Eve we heard mass and cooked dinner. I prepared Ethan’s special chicken. It was organic chicken with lemon zest/juice and spices. We also had our traditional macaroni soup and another meal that currently escapes me.

Since Ethan has autism, he could only eat the chicken and rice. His rice was cooked separate from ours. He has his own plates, glasses, and other kitchen stuff used to prepare a meal, including the chopping board and knives. He also has his own special dishwashing liquid. (By the way, visit Autism Pinoy.)

The next day, Christmas, we all just stayed at home. Ethan had (Ethan-friendly) peas and hotdogs for breakfast. We had steaks, sausage, and rice for lunch. Ethan had some of his special beef and broccoli, I think. For dinner, Kuya Edward cooked shrimp sinigang. I forgot what Ethan ate. >.< We also opened our presents. I got a nice brown corduroy jacket/hoodie.

Anyway, I had a blast there. Too bad I had to go home today (it’s a long story I don’t even what to talk about it). The rest of them went to Big Bear after they dropped me off at the train station (more on this later). Ethan had two and a half hours of skiing lessons. (Gah! I wanted to see him!) Kuya just kept me posted while I was on the train. In the end, Ethan had a total of five runs down the slopes. Too cute! Can’t wait for the pictures!

About the train thing… Since Kuya was too lazy, he really pushed me to just take the train home. So I did. At first we had a hard time looking for the perfect schedule. It was one of three station choices: West Corona, Fullerton, or San Bernardino. The tricky part was the layover at LA Union Station. We thought San Bernardino had the best schedule for everyone. It leaves at 7:14am and only has a forty minute wait before boarding the train going to Palmdale/Lancaster. The other schedules had about an hour or hour and a half waits. Nah uh. San Bernardino it was.

We all left Murietta at about 6:20am and got to the station 15 minutes before the train was scheduled to leave. I arrived at LA 10 minutes early, so I waited for about 50 minutes there. My next train left LA at 9:20am and I arrived at Palmdale Station a few minutes late at 11:00am.

I travelled for four freaking hours and I just have to thank the following people: 1) Tita Florence, the old Filipino lady I met on my second train–we talked from LA all the way to Newhall, so that kept me entertained (she even gave me three Starburst candies, my fave!), and 2) John Mayer, for his sweet, sweet singing voice and his wonderful songs that made the journey a lot more bearable. Thank you, thank you, thank you, even if I never get to meet you again or ever.

When I got home I also got presents from everyone back here. I got a turtle-neck sweatshirt, bath stuff, assorted candies, and two humongous bars of Hershey’s chocolate, which I lovingly dubbed “Fat Camp in bars”. Thank you all!