Christmas 2014 and New Year 2015

Already knew it was going to be a great Christmas Day from the Manila Bulletin headline.

In the Philippines, that's the Moro Islamic Liberation Front

Dad at Christmas brunch with grandson (my nephew), and sister-in-law after jubilantly gifting my brother with a GoPro:

Dad and Lukas Francis and Ayna

Toddler nephew also played around with my DSLR and managed to snap a decent photo of Amy. Then I pointed the DSLR at my other nephew Uno and said “DON’T SMILE”:

Photo of Amy taken by Nephew Lukas with Sony NEX3 Uno

So Merry Christmas, here was our tree:

Christmas Tree

Next day we packed up and headed south to Puerto Galera by banca.

Banca out of Berberabe, Batangas Cloudy sunset from banca en route to Puerto Galera, Mindoro #philippines

We stayed in the dive resort town of Sabang rather than the somewhat less quiet Puerto Galera town proper. Much scuba diving was done.

Sabang, Mindoro at low tide Puerto Galera, Mindoro #philippines

I’m not a huge fan of the Philippines’s New Year firecracker culture, but some of the resorts had nice fireworks. (Not pictured: drunken fistfight that broke out on beach in front of our resort.)

New Year's Eve Fireworks

We had a couple days back in Metro Manila after the Puerto Galera dive trip, mostly spent packing for the flight home to DC. Lovely views of Manila right up to the Bay from our hotel room.

Greenhills and Metro Manila panorama
Manila Skyline: Light and Shadow

It was really nice to come back and reconnect with family after a few missed years. Full holiday photo album here.