While she has lived in Sydney, Australia, for 30 years now, Angelyn Belleza still relishes memories of Christmases in the Philippines where she grew up. She and her young family come to visit every few years, but it has been a while since she spent Christmas in the old country.

“I still remember the excitement Christmas brings,” she tells Lifestyle via email. “Putting up a Christmas tree adorned with fake snow, baubles, and parol I made in school; going around the neighborhood caroling with friends; waking up early to the chilly dawn masses; and making sure I collect that tinubong, an Ilocano sweet sticky rice cake in a bamboo tube, from my best friend’s house on Christmas Day.”

Belleza, who grew up in Gattaran, Cagayan, migrated during university with her parents, to join her older siblings and their extended family Down Under. And it is with their large clan there that she gets to still observe traditional Filipino Christmases—with a few Aussie twists.

Since Christmastime is summer in Australia, “when the days are long and scorching hot, when the Aussies are either on the water or at the shops,” Christmas is typically spent on the beach, relates the real estate asset manager.

“Having a big family—cousins of three generations—who love doing things together, Christmas is the season we all look forward to, as it is spent driving to beach after beach, catching waves, basking in the sun, enjoying fish and chips by the sand, or barbecue at the park, and capped by an ice cream from a nearby kiosk,” she says. “From wearing sweaters when we were in the Philippines to now donning singlets and battling heat wave.”

Bring a plate

They still attend the Christmas Eve mass, though now it’s at 6 p.m., not close to midnight like when they lived in the Philippines. Since they’re a big family in Sydney—numbering 50-plus and counting—they take turns hosting noche buena, where every family brings a plate.

“The exchanging of gifts, the big spread of Filipino dishes and sweets, the unending fun games with prize money fixed at $5 (since I can remember), which feels like $500 to the winner. The young and old eat and party until the clock strikes midnight, and we all as one sing ‘Joy to the World’,” says Belleza, a mom of two.

“We’re lucky to live where ‘Pinoy town’ is in Sydney. The warmth of the Filipino Christmas spirit at this time of the year is everywhere,” she says.

Her family attempted to start new traditions in their adopted home, but conceded that they’re still Pinoys through and through. “It’s funny how we tried to move our Christmas gathering to Christmas Day and have the traditional Aussie Christmas lunch, but failed,” she says. “The Philippines may no longer be our home, but we are still Filipino at heart during Christmas.”

This year, as in the past years, the family will pack the Noche Buena leftovers and once more hit the beach. “That is depending on what time everyone wakes up after the big night,” she says. “Since work and school are on a break, we plan to drive interstate to Queensland for the New Year.” INQ