For makeup artist Jake Galvez, Christmas is time with his mom, siblings

Alexa Villano

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

The makeup artist to celebrities such as Kim Chiu, Kylie Verzosa, Andi Eigenmann, and Yassi Pressman say that he and siblings have created new traditions for the holiday celebration

TIME WITH MOM AND FAMILY. Makeup artist Jake Galvez says Christmas for him is about his mom, siblings, and friends. All photos by Dion Besa/Rappler

MANILA, Philippines – For makeup artist Jake Galvez, Christmas is the time of year when he and his siblings try to get together and celebrate with their mom.

Jake, who does the faces of big stars like Kim Chiu, Yassi Pressman, Andi Eigenmann, and Kylie Verzosa said that he and his siblings created their own traditions now that they’re older.

“I grew up in a big house with a small family. When I was working, and now that I have my own place, I wanted it to be different. I didn’t grow up with my other siblings, so right now we made new traditions. We try to be together on Christmas Eve with my mom,” he said.

Jake said that 2019 was a good year for him career- and personal-wise. Aside from his happy relationship with partner Martin de Leon, he and the group behind the podcast Becky Nights reunited and have since been producing video blogs of their adventures together.

“It’s my barkada (gang), it’s my support system,” Jake said of the group composed of hosts Divine Lee, IC Mendoza, fashion stylist Matt Gozun, Margaux Medina, Kevin Balot, and more. 

“It’s not just a show that we created, it’s a life support I guess not just for me but everyone in that group. I realized I just not created a voice for the LGBTQ+ community because it started that way, but I realized this year na oh gosh, that barkada, the becky (gay) nights barkada, the show, the podcast blog was good as it was a healthy reunion for us.” 

 

And with 2020 about to come, Jake is looking forward to what’s in store for the upcoming decade.

On Christmas before and now

Christmas before was totally different. It’s totally different right now because I grew up with my Lola and I grew up not having a traditional Christmas gathering. It was very lonely, we weren’t celebrating, like usually Christmas Eve we would be just watching TV and we have food on the table.

Christmas is better now that we’re older I think we’re more together, more happy and since I’m in a relationship right now, I also try to schedule or spend Christmas with my family, with my partner, and with my partner’s family. So it’s totally different.

NEW TRADITIONS. Jake shares that he and his siblings would give gifts to their mom.

Best Christmas memory 

For me that’s very important, I think when we’re complete – siblings with my mom and with my partner. When you get older you want to be with you family at least once a year. 

On whether he splurges on gifts or is being practical

I splurge. My family expects me to splurge, especially my mom. She expects me to give her expensive gifts. I think my mom is expecting more because she sees my Instagram stories, she sees me that I travel a lot. She monitors our lifestyle, I guess. Parang I know you get a lot of campaigns and endorsements this year, parang she has this expectation like, “I’m expecting something nice this year.”

But I know indirectly, she’s not materialistic…but now she wants everyone together. She’s 60 now so the more she gets older, she just wants everyone to be there. 

On his Christmas must-haves

[Definitely] my mom’s cooking. We always have our usual gift-giving, so we have this annual tradition of spoiling our mom. So we’re always giving something nice stuff to our mom kaya mataas ang expectation (that’s why her expectations are so high). We’re 6 siblings so we give gifts [to her].

REUNION. Jake says that one of the best things that happened in 2019 for him was the reunion of his friends in 'Becky Nights.'

On one of the best gifts he received

think when my partner gave me.. kasi we usually spend Christmas together with family but there was one trip abroad, we were just together, and spent Christmas together. It was my first time spending Christmas away from the family and it was simple. Christmas with your partner and with your significant other is different. 

On being a mental health advocate and part of a support system to his clients

Ever since I lost someone important, I have been very sensitive with people around me about being sad, being depressed. I don’t take it lightly anymore. I guess when that happened, it enlightened me that oh my gosh, you take these things seriously with our friends, with your loved ones. I’ve been advocating that mental health is important like reaching out to your friends who are sad, [those] you don’t know if they are depressed.

This is very important to us that’s why I reunited the beckies again ’cause I think it’s very important that we’re connected that we know what’s going on each other’s lives, are you okay? 

Now with my clients, I am very close to them. We see all my clients even outside the studio. We hang out, work out together, have dinners, celebrate together. Friendship is very important. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!
Sleeve, Clothing, Apparel

author

Alexa Villano

Alexa is one of Rappler's Lifestyle and Entertainment reporters, covering local entertainment news to a wide range of topics from beauty pageants to reality shows.