Chris Newsome enjoyed playing in front of a huge holiday crowd that even a Meralco loss to Converge could not dampen his excitement after playing his first-ever Christmas Day game in his career.

The veteran point guard certainly would love to come out with a victory but having to play in a Christmas atmosphere was enough for the nine-year pro.

“This is my first Christmas game ever out of the nine years that I've been in the league. It was an amazing environment,” said Newsome after the Bolts’ 94-110 loss to the FiberXers.

Playing on a Christmas Day was quite a new experience for Newsome, especially having to focus on the task at hand while dealing with the celebrations and festivities that come with the Yuletide season.

“Waking up this morning felt a little bit different than a normal Christmas that I'm used to because I knew at the end of the day it's a work day,” said Newsome.

“Nonetheless, it's nice to see all the fans here.  It's nice to be able to play basketball for the fans. Especially on this day, Filipinos are very passionate about the game of basketball and for us to be able to have Christmas games, I know it means a lot to them,” he added.

The excitement might have gotten the better of Newsome, however, as he only finished with nine points on a 4-of-16 shooting from the field to go with five rebounds and three assists.

His Bolts got off to a slow start and while they managed to threaten the FiberXers along the way, it was not enough to even get a taste of a lead as Converge cruised to the easy win.

And Newsome certainly would want to get another chance to play on a Christmas Day and bounce back from the subpar showing.

“It's sad about the result and how my first Christmas game went down but I'm one of those guys that looks at the things that happened and use it as motivation as I move forward,” said Newsome.

“This is something that I'm definitely gonna keep with me. Whenever that next Christmas game does come, I'm gonna be ready for that one and try to turn this thing around,” he added.