Last November 8

Last November 8, 2009, my dad, my brother, cousins, grandfather, aunt, uncles and I went to Loyola Cemetery in Marikina City to visit the graves of my late grandmother and my mama. We visited them a week after the observance of All Saints' Day. A practice we have observed as a family to avoid the traffic and crowd during November 1.

My dad, my brother, grandfather and I were at the cemetery at 4:30 pm, my cousins (children of my aunt who are living in Manila) arrived at around 6:00 in the evening. My aunt and her husband and my other uncle were caught in the traffic on their way to Quezon City, all of them were coming from Bataan were they are now based.

Our loved ones' graves were at the farthest side of the cemetery so by 6:00 in the evening we were engulfed by the pitch black darkness of the night. We did not bring any candles with us because my aunt was the one who prepared the flowers and candles.

We passed off the time while waiting for my aunt to arrive, chatting and taking pictures.

(i'm the one in stripes with the brown bag)

My aunt were able to reach Loyola at 7:30 pm. We stayed there until 8:00 in the evening. We were the only ones left at that side of the cemetery.

After visiting our dear departed loved ones, we were off to celebrate my granfather's birthday. It was a late celebration because his special day was last November 2.

We all proceeded to Lamesa Grill in Trinoma. We had dinner at 9:00 pm because of the heavy traffic on our way to Trinoma. Everyone was already hungry so we only took pictures after our dinner.

(my aunt,my uncle,my cousins)

( no more food on the table)

(my cousins, the one in red is my brother and me in stripes)

(my cousin and her husband, the one in blue with black stripes is my dad)

That's how are family observed All Saints' Day 2009