My Life is My Art My Art is My Life: vibrant. vivid.

it has been a Sisterhood tradition to celebrate christmas! and this year, we celebrate our life's colours!

it was a gathering of friends, of sisters. 27 dec 2011.

it is not everyday that we get the chance to come together, hang out and exchange gifts and stories, with our sisters / friends. and this party we hold yearly, is our own way to stay in touch, amidst the busy every day of our own separate lives. a year will definitely be incomplete without the gathering of The Sisters in the Hood.

usually, long before the party date, the theme has already been in mind. sometimes ideas come from my own stock of the stuff i use in F.A.R.M., other times, the idea comes from the net.

this year, however, the inspiration came just by the time i was setting up the table.

there were minor hitches, like when i couldn't find the portuguese lace that i love using for formal sit-down dinners.

i have to settle for the crocheted hand-me-down table cloth. the rest came easy. i have boxes of crocheted doilies in the rich colours i was imagining the table setting would be.

and my neighbours had the euphorbia blooms that would complete my palette. bwahahaha! some flowers were picked from unknowing neighbours. bwahahaha! beware of the flower picker that lurks during this time of the year.

a week before our party, we have already decided / assigned the colours of my F.A.R.M. christmas trees, to the five of us.

i got to pick my fave green, and i had my mind set on wearing one certain vintage linen dress for the occasion.

of course, ritzie did not have to be asked, and no one dared pick her colour from among the choices. bwahahaha! a show of respect, i.e. she owns the colour, we respect ownership. tootsie had her red, too, also owned. and yayette was made to pick from either blue or yellow, and opted for the sunny yellow, very appropriate for the sunny and smiling disposition she owns.

(by the way, when i set up my F.A.R.M. Christmas trees, i never realized that it might as well represent the sisters! in fact, my other group, burikbutikan baao, having five members as well, identifies with the trees, too. W.O.W.).

we started dinner with a bottle of red. tootsie warned us, tho, of her impending dozin'off - a forboding of the coming 3rd hour. ritzie, of course, was gracious enough to enjoy the wine, without batting an eyelash. bwahahaha! no preconcieved complaints from her. (complaints = T not R). bwahahaha!

before we gulped away the red, we had our salad, the greens of which came from La Huerta. i love serving dishes that use my farm produce. i set up a salad bar just near our dinner table, so eveybody can just fix n' mix their own salad.

the main course was the farm meatloaf, partnered with the creamy mashed potaoes in mushroom gravy. the meatloaf was perfect, taste, texture and appearance. thanks to lalaine, for following my culinary instructions. bwahahaha!

we had frozen grahams for dessert, and yayette brought out some truffles, too.

the exchange of gifts came right after dessert, so we had to transfer to the next room, the gallery, where our gifts were.

we each had an item on our wishlist, where our sisters would know what to give each other. this lets us prevent receiving unwanted gadgets and stuff that overcrowd our storage. we only wish for what we need.

this year, i realized, i need a new flat iron, so i wished for that, and i got it! sans the giddy. (reminder to T). bwahahaha!

we opened our presents with the excitement of children, reminiscent of our early christmas days when we wake up expectantly and rush under the tree to look for gifts with our names on them. we relive those wonderful memories, in our sisterhood christmas traditions.