December 25, 2005 10:38 PM Sunday, Jacksonville, Florida

Jesus is born! 

It is a special time for family gathering, exchange gifts and holiday meals. How did we spend our Christmas?

While I do the cleaning, DH went grocery shopping that Saturday morning and did the prep for Turkey stuffing and stuff.  In the afternoon, DH and I went to US-Pinoy Store to buy some puto, sapin-sapin, puto bunggung, pande-coco bread and mango ice cream then we drove to my mother-in-law's house.  The three of us--DH, MIL and I went to Church on Christmas Eve, at 6:30pm. We then come home straight and had dinner at my MIL's home. DH and MIL baked cinnamon rolls from scratch afterwards but by the time the clock hits 10:30pm, DH was so tired and worn out so we weren't able to go to the Midnight Mass.

Sunday, December 25, we start to gather around 11 o’clock in the morning.  Both sides of DH's family reside in California and West Virginia so every Thanksgiving and Christmas just the four of us (My Mother-in-law, brother-in-law, DH and I) gather together to celebrate the special  occasion.  My mother-in-law prepared some goddies for us to munch throughout the day so we don't usually eat big for lunch. 

Around noon time, we do the opening of the gifts. As I expected, my family showered me with mostly stuff that are very useful for my upcoming trip to the freezing place of Chicago. The best Christmas present DH and I got this Christmas is a gift from my mother-in-law.  A collector's item  Nativity Set from Seraphim Classics. As always I am touch by the love and support the family showed me for this trip and just about anything I want to do. On the other hand, I really feel bad leaving my DH behind for 6 days. How I wish I can tug him along with me to Chicago but his work doesn’t allow him to take off during the month of December so he has no choice but to stay. He says, he’ll miss me greatly but I know he’ll undeniably enjoy this rare chance to be home alone quietly by himself. I teased him repeatedly why did he marry me to begin with as he seems to enjoy being alone anyway. He responded with a grin in his face, “I was crazy and completely out of my mind at that time, Sweetheart !” LOL

All my boots are high heeled, 2 to 3 inches.  DH strongly forbids not dare bringing those types with me in Chicago so I ordered this

 Winter Ridge Boots Side-Zip online from LLbean.com not knowing DH bought me this Winter Ridge Boots, Pull-On from LLlean.com too as Christmas present.  They both are waterproof leather upper is treated to resist salt stains; Lined with warm Thinsulate Insulation.

 

I think these boots are going to keep me warm while running around Chicago or playing in the snow. I would say both boots are very comfortable in my feet but I am not really fond of wearing flat shoes so it feels kind of weird walking with it.

From the time we moved in to a house, my mother-in-law had relinquished her role as hostess of Family Christmas Dinner. She said it’s about time for us to do the chores since she’s been doing it ever since.  DH and I are always good in sharing the responsibility thus DH was in-charged to do grocery shopping and cooking while I do the cleaning. As a result, DH was able to put together a delicious meal consisting of baked turkey with stuffing, green bean casserole, green peas, mashed potatoes and gravy under the supervision of mom of course.   We feasted on the food and at the end we were all stuffed and happy :-)

Man, I can't believe how much food especially sweets I consumed in the past week. People in the office continously as in every day pass around all sorts  of goodies and sweets which are very hard to resist.  My boss treated us for big lunch that week too.  Holy Molie, I gained a total of 5 lbs in a week!?!  I can't believe I am back to 120 lbs! I even skipped the Christmas party in the office last Monday for obvious reason but it certainly didn't help any. Well, I reckoned, I haven't been working out either in the last four weeks so what should I expect?" Balloon eh!

Anyhow, it's a Merry Christmas indeed.  I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas as well.

More photos here.

 

December 18, 2005 8:32 PM Sunday, Jacksonville, Florida

Pinay Style Christmas Party

I think Filipino Christmas Party is easier to plan than any other party there is. Of course, I am only referring to small-intimate informal Christmas party here--14 couples. Here’s how we did it. I spoke to Ate Susan’s on the phone and ask her if she is interested to host our Christmas party this year on Sunday, December 18 at lunch time. She agreed to the proposition so then we call the rest of the gang to let them know about the plan. Everyone’s settled!

At first we all decided to “bring your own dish” to the party but Juliet suggestion’s to have “lechon baboy” (pork roast) later was favored  by the majority. Off she goes to order lechon baboy for $200 and we agreed to chip in $15 each for the bill.

Ate Susan prepared some lumpia shanghai, fried chicken, biscuits and rice. Nympha brought some sautéed shrimps and steamed camote tops with tomatoes and vinegar.  Others brought in some desserts. Lunch was served in a buffet “kamayan” style. Yum!

 It was funny how my pinay friends reacted to DH's first attempt to eat steamed camote tops with tomatoes and vinegar! I was even surprised to see him spooning a serving in his plate.  I even warned him that was weeds but he said he ate grass before. LOL

 

Everyone brings a gift to the party. So after lunch, we placed a number in each gift then we draw a number from a hat.

 

 

Here are the photos of our Christmas Party.

   

More photos here
 

 

December 9, 2005 8:11 PM Friday, Jacksonville, Florida

Christmas Décor

Time flies quickly! The final countdown had started.  15 days before Christmas and I am just about done with my home decorating venture.  I have been telling DH as early as November that I want our Christmas tree be up by the very first day of December but it didn’t happen.  I was out all day long for both days over the weekend for IRS training while DH started working on his Christmas project at home.

Unknown to my knowledge, DH climbed the rooftop to put up the colored Christmas lights all together by himself.  I was in panic when he finally told me what he did and how it felt when he was up there.  I scolded him for his stubbornness of course but do you think that helps? Nope!  He is still as stubborn as I am!  Needless to say, I think he did a good job didn't he?

 

 

He also bought this 10 ft. real Christmas tree for $100 however we didn’t get a chance to work on it until Tuesday night.  DH never likes the plastic/fake Christmas tree at all despite telling him we can save money in the long run if we buy the fake one. Don't get me wrong, I like the real Christmas tree myself but I can't seem to rectify spending $100+ bucks for it every year.

 

 

This treasured piece, Christmas Tree Skirt was conscientiously hand-quilted unambiguously just for us by our precious Aunt Judy (MIL’s only sister in California) about two years ago. You see, my mother-in-law’s craze is crocheting while her sister is hand quilting. Her niece, Delphi’s masterpiece (only daughter of Aunt Judy) is in needlecraft/embroidery similar to cross-stitching but hers is so much finer and is flawlessly made.  The skills of these three women are undoubtedly amazing.

 

Now these cherished beaded ornaments are antique. They were meticulously handcrafted piece by piece by my late father-in-law about 40 or so years ago.  Aren’t they incredulous? My mother-in-law had as always good-naturedly wrapped them one by one and put them away in a safe box after each Christmas.  She finally gave them to us this year thinking these ornaments will look fabulous in our first home.  Here are my favs!

 

This star, our Christmas tree topper was one of the many Christmas gifts my mother-in-law gave us when we first moved in to our condo six years ago. Isn’t that striking?

 

 

I think we both did well in accessorizing our Christmas tree. This year Christmas tree turned out to be a little more dazzling compared to our Christmas trees in the past. After all the Christmas tree was put out, I look around and thought I needed to do something more to embellish the interior of our home so as to sense the true spirit of Christmas.

Admiring at Carlota’s splendid creations, I chided myself for not having the basic skills or perhaps the lack of nerve to put together a simple décor so as to add more color in the interior design. So with much contemplation, I swayed myself to give it a try why not.  If Carlotz can do it, why can’t I?  It shouldn’t be that complicated, I muttered to myself.

Wednesday afternoon, I got off work an hour early with an explicit mission to stop by at Garden Ridge to shop for supplies and materials to do the task. Garden Ridge has quite a selection of ready-made Christmas décor, wreaths and other stuff ranging from $29.99 to $69.99 a piece but I supposed I can buy the pieces and pull together two or more of similar style at a much less expensive overhead. 

Anyway, three hours later, (I kidded you not, I can go shopping or mall hopping all day long) I wheeled the shopping cart full of stuff to one of the check out registers and was surprised to see the total did come closed to $110 despite each item having 30-50% discount. Well, I thought that if I will end up not needing all of them, I can always return it anytime within 30 days. This is the best thing about the US market. You can practically buy just about anything, take it home, open it, try it on, play with it and if it doesn’t satisfy your needs or doesn’t work as you hoped it should, you can always return them to the store within 30 days from the date of purchase provided you have a receipt or gift receipt is fine too.

Ooh, I tore the store up-side-down looking for bargains and stuff. I know I am such a big bargain scavenger!   DH thought I am too tightfisted as in “cheap” for anything other than my most wanted gadgets--toys. And he goes on lecturing me about the Cost Benefit Analysis. But I think I am just too frugal to the point of stinginess when it comes to spending our hard-earned money ;-)

I was finally home before 8pm and started working on the project.  At 10pm with DH giving me a hand from time to time, I was able to fabricate 2 Christmas wreaths, 3 centerpieces, put up the décor for the sliding glass door and fireplace.  See I didn’t realize I have this hidden decorating skill up until last Wednesday night. Not too bad huh?

 

 

   

   
 

 

The downside of it was, I must have caught some kind of virus or something while I roved the store as I start sneezing that night.  The next morning when I woke up, the sneezing becomes even worse! I am now coming down with cold… not a good thing for Christmas. I haven’t even started shopping yet for Christmas presents!

More photos here

                                                               

December 1, 2005 8:01 PM Thursday, Jacksonville, Florida

Christmas Parol

My Darling Husband has been so fascinated with the spectacular Philippine Christmas Parol (star lantern) so much so that every Christmas, he longs to have one where he can hung inside or outside our home.  He especially likes the biggest one made with bamboo and brightly colored paper buntings or streamers. Wish I have the skills and talent to make one.  I am thinking out loud...hmmm do you think this would make a lucrative business here in the States during Christmas season?

Has anyone out there here in the States knows where to buy a Philippine Christmas Parol that look similar to the ones below?  We have been searching on the Internet and all over the place but to no avail.

 

 

My pinay friend Gazel from Orlando just came back from her one-month home visit few days ago and she was telling me that she bought this super big spectacular Parol that costs 1,500 pesos in Davao airport but when she checked in for her flight back to the States, the airport staff won't let her bring the parol with her.  Oh she was devastated and I would too!

For my stateside friends, here's an  interesting read about how Filipinos celebrate Christmas in the Philippines.