Los Angeles California
The Christmas "EB" was held in a small suburb in Los Angeles California, in a Mall on a Sunday Afternoon in a Filipino Restaurant called Max's.. I rode up there with Lou and when we got there, I helped set up the place, getting the desk all purty'ed up, trying to make it look presentable when we have both the gift exchange thingy and the Auction/Raffle to make money for the Arnel Pineda Foundation. There was also Custom Soaps and Candles Donated by Susan (911) from Florida that were sold off along with Programs that we had from the Heart2Heart Foundation Party earlier in the year. We decorated the place to look all Christmas like and we even had a Karaoke/DJ machine all set up in a special VIP Room. 
Earlier in the week, my close friend Johnny (who's like a brother to me), told me about the worst Christmas gift he ever got. When he told me about it, I actually thought it was pretty funny...What happened was, on a gift exchange, someone wrapped up Patis (Fish Sauce) in a fancy Wine Bottle gift wrap, so Johnny came up with this Idea to me to pull a prank on both Malou and Candy. 
At first, I was kinda hesitant about doing this because I care too much about my friends...I didn't know what to expect, or how they would respond. At the Christmas "EB", after we had our exchange gifts given, I put on my act, and I got everyone to watch the special gift that both me and Johnny gave to Malou and Candy. It was wrapped all fancy to look like an expensive wine (I'm very good at wrapping gifts.) As they fought through the nice and tight wrapping, Candy started to get a little suspicious because the gift was from both me and Johnny. When it was finally opened, the whole party erupted with laughter...to Malou's and Candy's surprise...they both got Patis. The girls laughed it off but the next day on the web-site, all they talked about was REVENGE!!! (with a smile)We also had a raffle ticket give away at the party (I emceed it) ...a lot of the raffle ticket gifts were donated to make money for the AP Foundation and I remember buying alot of those tickets for this event. Unfortunately, I won alot from the raffle but could not see myself accepting them...I mean, it's all for the foundation so everything I won...I gave away, or I simply passed on them. Everyone was surprised when I passed up on the OAKLEY MP3 Sunglasses that I won...they were valued at over $300 and they were donated by Merlita. To make it fair to everyone at the party, I pulled out another ticket.
Overall, the raffle, the Gift Exchange, the Auctioning... we made $1300 for the AP Foundation on this Christmas "EB". Afterwards, as we were all cleaning up and saying our goodbyes to one another, we all wanted pictures... both individually with someone and as a group. There were tears and hugs as we parted ways because these are the same people that attended the November event from a month ago...or atleast, most of them were. We've all become quite a tight knit unit this past year and I love every single one of them...they are my friends...some closer than the others but still friends I care so much about. This is My Personal Year in Review
...I know there have been some ups and downs this year...some happy memories, some you'd like to forget, but as I sit here with my laptop posting this Blog...I just want to wish everyone of my friends a Great 2010
...may this year be better than the last one...
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