unlike some parents, mine never made us believe in santa.

santa claus was my mom buying us the gifts we wanted.
santa claus was my aunt taking us christmas shopping with a two hundred peso budget each.
santa claus was a variety of christmas presents - some good, some bad, some meant to be re-gifted - every year.

after all, how can you believe in santa when the closest thing you have to a chimney would be a small exhaust tube on your roof?

this year, however, my brother's girlfriend and my boyfriend kept using the word santa on me. see, i wanted this lovely fino pencil case which i found to be awfully expensive. come on, P750 for a tiny leather thing? no way, right? but they just kept telling me, don't worry, santa's going to buy it.

and so i waited.

and waited.

by the 22nd, i was in near panic. my christmas stash was nowhere near impressive, and while my dear sweet friends have given me lots of things to rave about, none of the presents i've received came in a fino box. i've got bars of soap, a shirt (gary, it fits!) and a cd, stationary, and what seems like a toothpick glass with a dog beside it, but no fino pencil case.

until i woke up on the 23rd, and there, beneath the tree, was a small fino box addressed to me.

i was in sheer fino bliss.

until the 25th came along, and my cousin's wife presented me with a coach box with a lovely AUTHENTIC coach bag inside.

santa, you've turned me into a believer.

you may not be at all fat, and you need not be in a red suit. sometimes your gifts come a bit early and sometimes late, but by golly, when you give, you give good.

p.s. a big shout of thanks to gary for the internet connection. without you, this post wouldn't have made it online today. i wish i had the patience to upload the pictures. unfortunately, i don't.