/Skipping Christmas... i thought i can... →→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→

Have you read John Grisham's Skipping Christmas? I did last year and was kinda having the same what-if-i-skip-christmas-this-year bug lately.

Last Christmas was the the best Christmas i ever had. After spending Christmas here in japan for four years (1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002) i was able to muster some courage and ask for additional 3-day leave to be able to spend both Christmas and New year in the Philippines. I planned everything so my mother won't know i'm coming home early for Christmas. I told my brothers and sisters not to tell her because i want to surprise her.

The day we went home to Bulacan, I asked my brother to drop me a few blocks from our house so i can walk home to really make my mother think I wont be able to make it. I also asked him to videocam everything. I then sneaked to the back of our house and waited. She then heard the dogs barking at me (I should have talked to the dogs about the plan.) She saw me but instead of a hug she repeatedly hit my back saying "Gago ka! Gago ka!" while crying. That's priceless! and my brother got it on cam! (I'll look for the tape later)

I think she would be crying this year too because me and my sister won't be there. My sister just moved to Taiwan. This would be like the worst Christmas for her, knowing how she really enjoys spending time with the whole family during Holidays. It would be worst for me too thus the what-if-i-skip-christmas-this-year bug.

I decided not to skip Christmas... because of Final Fantasy...read below.

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I didnt expect Final Fantasy XI will change everything. I was leveling my Ninja character this weekend when i saw other players with Santa's hat. I checked it but its just a hat with defense:1 as its attribute.



So whats the fuss getting a lame hat. I even shouted in Kazham "Is it even worth it to get the hat?!?!?!". A guy said "I like how it looks on me." I said "Whatever.".

After a while i was surrounded by red hat people! I feel like scrooge and all alone.... So i decided to do the quest for the hat, "Dream Hat" as the people from Square coined it. To unlock the quest you need to talk to the Starlight event moogle. The moogle will tell you that the smilebringer has been handing out gifts to children and that there are 3 kids who want to send letters to the smilebringer. Your mission is to find the 3 kids and get the letters from them. You just need to roam around talking to kids until you get the three letters: letter of Gratitude, letter of Joy and letter of Thanks (Beware tarutarus look like kids but they are not). After that, look for SmileBringer(the NPC with the Santa hat) and hand him/her those letters. The Smilebringer will then give you our own santa hat and the honor to give presents to all the kids around the three main cities. I'm really overflowing with Chritmas spirit that i even finished all three Christmas tree quests(Windurstian Holiday Tree, Sandorian Holiday Tree and Bastokan Holiday Tree). I heard if you give enough presents to children You will get a special hat "Dream Hat +1" that can dispense ginger cookies every game day. (Just check Allakazham or other sites for quest guides.)

After playing FFXI i rummage for the small Christmas tree from 2 years ago and place it in my room... I guess im not skipping Christmas after all...