The family Christmas tradition in Baguio

Two weeks ago, our family went on our annual Christmas trip to Baguio from Dec. 12 to 15.

- WITH PAT-P

My mom and two siblings, Paul and Penny, together with twin nephews Patrick and Peter, went up Thursday morning, while me and my daughter Gabbie followed on Friday, Dec. 13, after my morning show. (My other brother Pete couldn't join us because his daughter was sick.) My siblings completed the trip in a little over five hours, including stopovers to use the bathroom and to have lunch. For me, though, getting out of Metro Manila was a Friday the 13th nightmare. What usually takes 20 minutes from the NET25 studio along Central Ave. to the NLEX Mindanao Toll Plaza took us an hour. But we didn't allow the traffic to dampen our mood because we were expecting it. We got to the NLEX Toll Plaza around 11:30 a.m. and before entering SLEX, stopped for a quick bite and two iced coffees for our drive to the City of Pines.

We arrived at the Baguio Country Club (BCC) around 3:30 p.m. and the place was teeming with golfers, who were there for the 74th Januarius Fil-Am Golf Tournament. I learned that the event attracted around 1,400 golfers from 260 teams across the Asia-Pacific region.

After our luggage was brought to our room and I said hello to my mom and siblings (who were walking around Camp John Hay at the time), Gabbie and I went down to the Verandah for fresh strawberry juice and puto bumbong. And just like that, the holiday spirit enveloped us like a hug, the gorgeous, giant Christmas tree in the golf course and the yummy puto bumbong playing no small part in giving us the warm and festive Christmas feels we had driven almost six hours to experience.

One of the musts for our family is dinner at Hamada, our top-ranked Japanese restaurant in Baguio that is conveniently located in BCC. At our teppanyaki table, our favorite chef Ray, who has been with BCC for over 24 years, treated us to a mesmerizing display of juggling and chopping as he cooked the steaks, vegetables and fried rice.