THE year 2011 is almost at its end and we would like to view it as a year of achievements for Filipinos here in America as well as those back home.  Although all of our cover subjects for Something Filipino are all worth remembering, we have chosen the top 10 stories that have been our favorites:

MY first Christmas away from home was four years ago, and was made more melancholy because my mom decided to fly back to the Philippines to spend the holidays with my brothers and their families. I, in turn, spent Christmas with my sister’s friends and people I hardly knew. This year, both my mother and sister (who has not been home since 2000) are in the Philippines to celebrate Christmas with the rest of our family.

Years later, Christmas in the United States became less sad for me. I realized that a lot of Filipinos have been away from home much longer than I have, and have yearned to spend Christmas in the Philippines. Most of those who were asked why they have not had the chance to fly back home gave a number of reasons—finances, busy schedules and/or lack of vacation time. For whatever reasons they have, all of them agree that Filipinos’ pasko is the merriest and most meaningful.