Not home alone for Christmas

Marionettes by the staircase are from a thrift shop in Dapitan Street.

MANILA, Philippines – Christmas Day is always memorable for actor Mark Herras “because the whole family gathers at my house.”

This holiday family reunion tradition attended by all of Mark’s relatives in his home is the fulfillment of a promise to his late grandmother Dolores.

Mark said this Christmas Eve gathering of the entire clan never happened when his grandmother was still alive. (She passed away almost three years ago.)

“I was able to fulfill my promise to Mamang (Dolores),” he told Living Stars on our recent visit to his two-story home in Commonwealth, Quezon City. “For the first time last year, we thought of playing parlor games. It was a riot. We were together from Christmas Eve until the following day. I didn’t allow any of them to leave after noche buena. The adults drank until

Mark Herras beside the six-foot-tall Christmas tree, which has been with the family for three years now.

we dropped, and the kids enjoyed playing ‘Pinoy Henyo.’”

This year, Mark again invited all of them over to his house. The actor lives with his mom Jasmin, adoptive father Jun, brother Christopher and Uncle Hermi Santos, Mark’s guardian since the actor was 6.

Uncle Hermi said he would usually start putting Christmas decorations all over the 240-square-meter property in the first week of December. However, during our mid-November visit, their three-year-old, six-foot-tall Christmas tree was already adorned with bronze balls and gold ribbons; red plastic bells hung on the chandeliers; and a clay Santa Claus figurine sat proudly on a side table in the living area.

“I mounted everything in one day with the help of five guys,” he proudly said.

Uncle Hermi loved mixing and matching old pieces with a few new items bought in malls or in stores in Dapitan Street, Manila, where he said he got all his best purchases at the lowest prices. The pair of reindeer, a miniature lamp post and Santa Claus figurines displayed at the garage are all from Dapitan; so are the rattan baskets and the wooden framed mirror in the living room.

Except during the holidays, the dining area is hardly ever used. “It’s never been a family custom to eat at the same time. I always come home late from work so they allow me to have dinner in my room,” Mark said.

The Lanai area is the venue of several nights of drinking and card games.

He seldom cooks and when he does it is just to fry rice, eggs or bacon. “We like to drive around and go food tripping when my schedule permits.”

Mark is a regular of the weekly variety show “Sunday All Stars” and is the star of the coming drama-suspense series “Rhodora X,” both on GMA 7.

Busiest place

Mark’s bedroom, devoid of any trimmings, was the busiest place on Christmas Day last year.

“All the kids came in to play video games,” he said, adding that he allowed the little ones to tinker with his collection of toy cars and action figures. “I didn’t mind that they played with

Christmas decor, old and new

the toys. I just made them promise to return each item once they were done.”

The first thing we noticed going into Mark’s room—the biggest of the five bedrooms—was his huge collection of rubber shoes. They’re stored in floor-to-ceiling shelves. “A lot of them have been given away, especially for the auction that GMA 7 organized for Supertyphoon ‘Yolanda’ survivors,” he said.

Interestingly, Mark doesn’t own a bed and merely sleeps on a queen-size mattress. “I feel more relaxed on this. My cousins and I like to play rough. We slam each other on the bed so its frames always get broken. I haven’t had a bed frame for two years now,” he explained.

Zoo-like

There’s hardly any cooking done in this kitchen, says Mark.

Our visit got even more interesting. Mark’s uncle then warned us of “seeing the Malabon Zoo” through the actor’s room. Mark has access to the terrace, where he has kept a number of aquariums and cages. His interest in fish breeding started four years ago, when ex-girlfriend Ynna Asistio gave him a Malaysian golden arowana for a birthday present. Now, he also has a pet bird and several turtles.

His photos with ex-GF Ynna Asistio still hang on his bedroom wall.

“I was able to make the arowana grow really big,” he recalled. “Back then, I still didn’t know which fish should go together. I would mix them in one aquarium and find some of them dead in the morning. This would make me really depressed.”

“I know better now,” he said. “I always do my research before buying a particular breed of fish. I also know which food to feed them.” Mark has meat-eating fishes—  the redtail catfish, lungfish, spotted gar fish and snakehead. His fiercest is the Malaysian red-bellied pacu. “The others are afraid of it,” he noted.

Mark has remained friends with Ynna, who was his girlfriend for five years. A frame with photos of the ex-couple still hangs on his bedroom wall. “I didn’t take it down because I didn’t

feel I should. What we had is still important to me. I still have our photos even on my phone. I’d probably delete Ynna’s photos when I already have a new girlfriend, out of respect for her,” Mark said.

(Email [email protected])

Photos by Romy Homillada