A Day Worth to Remember - My Sister's Fourteenth Birthday Celebration

Oh how fast the night changes. It's not about One Direction's song "Night Changes" but rather I'm referring to how come time flies so fast. Years ago, I still remember my younger sister's little cries in my mother's embrace completely unaware and innocent in this world, how tiny she is on my father's body frame, how she snores when she was sleeping, the warm and soft feeling of her delicate skin when we are caressing it, her cute giggles that can also make us laugh, and her ear-shattering sob that can shatter a glass.

I saw her grow up. Just like a Pokemón, I saw her continuous evolution and will soon catch a glimpse of her final form. She is not the baby sister that we need to look after to anymore, she's not the clumsy little girl that oftentimes scolded like before, she is now a grown-up lady and will soon be the woman she imagined herself to be. I can't believe that she's turning fourteen this year, a few more years on her eighteenth birthday. But even though I want her to stay and enjoy being a child, I know that she needs to grow up and mature.

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The night before her birthday, we are busy preparing the dishes that we will cook. In that way, it will be easier for us to move and function on the main date. We also make the desserts on the same night since it needs to be refrigerated. We're not expecting a lot of visitors, only my sister's colleagues and some of our relatives since it's still pandemic.

My sister's special day has come, I woke up early to greet her and also to help my parents with cooking. I will be the helper and my parents will be the chef of the day. As I leave my room, they are already starting. What can you expect from our parents, right? They are constantly early birds. I just prepared myself first before holding a knife and start to slice, chop, press, and shred raw ingredients.

That's how my day goes, I'm assigned from preparing everything on the table while my parents are joined forces from cooking on the stove. We are the only three who are working because my older brother has a job and my other siblings have classes to attend. That's why there's no doubt that after all of this, we're knocked down in our bed later because of exhaustion.

It's been 3'oclock since we finished everything. The dishes are now prepared on the table as well as the utensils for the upcoming visitors. Let me share with you for a while what we've prepared, these photographs will make your tummy crumble and mouth watery.

During birthday celebrations like this, it is common for us Filipinos to cook saucy cheesy Spaghetti, every child's favorite, and Pancit with a lot of vegetable toppings at the top. From when I was a child until I reached my age today, these two are always present on the special days of my life. They are the witnesses to how long I'm still single for the years that passed by. If ever I will be given a chance to name my life story on national television, perhaps these two dishes will be the title. For sure, you also heard that Pancit has some mysteries, according to some it can prolong your life. I hope it can also lengthen relationships.

This Palabok is given by my father's friend as a gift to my sister. The first time they put it on the table, I can't help myself but smell the mixed aroma of squid and shrimp. Trust me! It's a very good combination! Can't wait to taste it, I will target the seafood at the top.

You might find it unusual for these occasions but since we are craving some street foods we decided to add this to today's menu. I am the one who cooked these and make the spicy sticky sauce. I can't help but visualize the times when everything is fine back then, after we leave school the very first thing that we will do is to buy food on the streets and some fresh drinks while having a good conversation. Shocks! I missed those times! When will it happen again?

Two of my favorites! We love mango graham cake but my father decided to have some new experimentation so he made graham cake with a small piece of grapes. Pretty new and unique, don't you think? I tried to taste it, but it still taste the same. The only difference is the combination of the sourness of grapes. I will still choose the mango graham one's over this though. On the other hand, you can see the freezing fruit salad. It's hard like how hard-headed I am but delicious and detectable if you got a taste. Lol.

It's not obvious that we have sweet tooth, right? We didn't know how to cook these, my father just bought them at the market in the morning. But the green gelatin that you can see, we made it. It has buko strips and small cube cheeses as toppings. Sweet delicacies that can sweeten my bland life. No partner? Don't worry! Here's the solution to your problem.

Red jumbo hotdog my tomme. Since we have some visitors, we want to make this extra special by grilling some hotdogs and pork. It's quite enjoyable to grill but the smoke keeps hitting my face. That's why if I smelled like barbeque, it's not my fault anymore.

This chicken is fried by my mother, this is the extra dish that we can eat at dinner if there will be some leftovers. So for me to make sure that I got to taste it, I immediately eat one without them knowing it.

Lastly, here's the special request of the birthday celebrant. A cake and some ice cream. Don't let me choose who's much better because I know to myself that I can't choose between them. All I know is that I can eat all of them in one sitting, just don't disturb me if that happens.

Exactly 4:00 when all of the visitors arrived. We started the celebration by singing a birthday song and after that, we ate. I also prepared the karaoke machine on our television to have some talent portion. Capturing photos, selfies, and groupies can be seen all around the house, the happiness and their laugh just prove that they are enjoying themselves. My father asked me if I want to drink like my cousins and aunts but I declined. Such a good boy but that's not sure.

I chose to go to our garden with my cousin and decided to have a fun conversation while the people are busy. We just get down when the visitors are already leaving. I am physically tired after the event, so I just let myself succumb to sleep when everything ended. This day is truly a remarkable day for me.

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All photos used in this article are ALL MINE and were edited using the Lightroom application.