Hang all the mistle toe

In the midst of all the papers, exams, presentations and with all the fall classes wrapping up, it can often get really crazy during these weeks, and everything gets a little gloomy. What keeps me optimistic during these times is the thought of weeks after it is all done..the Christmas festivities!! December has and will always be my favorite month of the year for a number of reasons MY BIRTHDAY (dec 11), Christmas, and boxing day! Although this month is panned for consumerism at an all time high I get pretty caught up in the spectacle. I love it all, the atmosphere during these weeks brings a smile to my face just thinking about it. The hot coco nights, all the baking I tend to do, the buzz in the malls, the christmas music and movies playing all day everyday, the candy canes, the rich colours, the santa pictures, skating at nathan phillips square, the lights on yorkville and everywhere, but most importantly cooking with my mother on christmas day and my family coming together. I come from a Filipino background and during these times the following traditional dishes are brought to the table:

For breakfast: Tapsilog

This consists of fried rice, eggs sunny side up, tomatoes, and tapa meat
aka cured meat

Palabok: a noodle dish, jam packed with greatness

and lastly for dessert Halo-halo this dish usually comes out during the summer time
but in my household its a year round dish. It consists of crushed ice, cream, sugar,
red beans, mangos and many other things, with a scoop of ube(taro) ice cream.

Photocredits: off_wut post (cochina)