Time to plan your trips!
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Holidays In Antique
I've been mostly tied to my computer since we got here but I'm happy to report that it's not totally the same for the little girl.
Let me just illustrate that by sharing some photos:
Date night. Oldies went for beer and the kids enjoyed sausages and pasta.
Then most days were spent running and climbing fences and rolling on the grass and patting free range piggies in the grannies backyard.
This face here. Just says it all.
Yes she spends a big chunk of her time catching up on her Disney/Nick/Cartoon Network favorite shows but she also takes time to go outside and enjoy what we really came for.
Let me just illustrate that by sharing some photos:
Date night. Oldies went for beer and the kids enjoyed sausages and pasta.
Then most days were spent running and climbing fences and rolling on the grass and patting free range piggies in the grannies backyard.
These piggies were named Rose and Gumamela. And they really enjoyed calling the piggies by these names. "Mommy, can we feed Rose and Gumamela some apples today?" (kalurkey)
This face here. Just says it all.
Monday, December 23, 2013
Merry Christmas!
So we're finally settled in my Antique now. We've been officially on vacation since last Friday but my siblings planned something out for our family and we made a stopover at the nearby Guimaras Island (will make a separate post of that weekend soon) for the kids to frolic a bit and get some more color before we hit it off for the holidays.
I'm that feeling that Christmas-y yet. I probably won't till maybe a few hours before. There's a reason for that but I'm not going to ruin this post by sharing that here. Maybe it's also partly because this feels so new again -- the idea of spending Christmas away from our Cavite home -- but the kid already claimed it by announcing: I LIKE CHRISTMAS HERE AT LOLA'S.
Yes, Christmas is definitely better here. I wouldn't have to worry about what to plan for our Noche Buena (oh yes, my mom will take care of that). And nothing will always beat sharing a Christmas meal with family.
So yes, we're wishing you a Merry Christmas! I hope no matter what circumstance you are in, you are spending Christmas with a heart filled with overwhelming joy and hope.
I'm that feeling that Christmas-y yet. I probably won't till maybe a few hours before. There's a reason for that but I'm not going to ruin this post by sharing that here. Maybe it's also partly because this feels so new again -- the idea of spending Christmas away from our Cavite home -- but the kid already claimed it by announcing: I LIKE CHRISTMAS HERE AT LOLA'S.
Yes, Christmas is definitely better here. I wouldn't have to worry about what to plan for our Noche Buena (oh yes, my mom will take care of that). And nothing will always beat sharing a Christmas meal with family.
So yes, we're wishing you a Merry Christmas! I hope no matter what circumstance you are in, you are spending Christmas with a heart filled with overwhelming joy and hope.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Christmas Traditions
It's official the start of our Christmas countdown. Today being the first day of Misa De Gallo or what is more popularly known as Simbang Gabi for most Filipinos.
My little girl has not attended any one of these morning masses yet. It's too early for her and our subdivision does not hold anticipated Simbang gabi masses yet (hopefully soon though). Can you remember the first time you attended Simbang Gabi?
I honestly can't. The closest memory I have is from highschool. When my uncle signed me up to join the church choir so I'll have something to list down in community participation in school. I've always been off-key. I love music but it never really loved me back. But my choir mates had the patience to put up with my singing anyhow and I survived that Christmas season unscathed and yes, with brand new friends.
I started this post hoping I'd finally come up with a bright idea for a Christmas family tradition but two paragraphs after, I still haven't felt that bulb light up. So much for traditions to start this year. That has long been in my list but every year during the holidays, I never seem to get myself out of urgent things to attend to at work. I super envy my friend Maqui for maintaining what in my opinion are super fun Christmas traditions. I'm sure her little boy Aki always looks forward to Christmas. What with all the traditions she has lined up.
Next year, Maia. Hopefully next year I can come up with something fun we can do as a family. For now, I hope you will cherish the memories that we will make your Pachoco cousins. We'll be spending our pre-Christmas weekend at the beach! Yay right?
Before I end I'd like to go back to the purpose of this post, would you care to share your Christmas traditions as a family?
My little girl has not attended any one of these morning masses yet. It's too early for her and our subdivision does not hold anticipated Simbang gabi masses yet (hopefully soon though). Can you remember the first time you attended Simbang Gabi?
I honestly can't. The closest memory I have is from highschool. When my uncle signed me up to join the church choir so I'll have something to list down in community participation in school. I've always been off-key. I love music but it never really loved me back. But my choir mates had the patience to put up with my singing anyhow and I survived that Christmas season unscathed and yes, with brand new friends.
I started this post hoping I'd finally come up with a bright idea for a Christmas family tradition but two paragraphs after, I still haven't felt that bulb light up. So much for traditions to start this year. That has long been in my list but every year during the holidays, I never seem to get myself out of urgent things to attend to at work. I super envy my friend Maqui for maintaining what in my opinion are super fun Christmas traditions. I'm sure her little boy Aki always looks forward to Christmas. What with all the traditions she has lined up.
Next year, Maia. Hopefully next year I can come up with something fun we can do as a family. For now, I hope you will cherish the memories that we will make your Pachoco cousins. We'll be spending our pre-Christmas weekend at the beach! Yay right?
Before I end I'd like to go back to the purpose of this post, would you care to share your Christmas traditions as a family?
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Yes Maia, There Is A Santa Claus
This morning I was wrapping up stuff for our office Kris-kringle and the little miss saw some nice looking pens inside the paper bag. She attempted to grab it but I stopped her and reminded her it’s not hers.
“You want these?”
“Yes, Mommy”
“Well, let’s add this to your wishes for Santa. He might just get you some too”
“Ayaw.” (I Don’t Want To)
“Why? You don’t believe in Santa anymore?”
“Oo. Wala. Walang Santa”. (Yes. Santa doesn’t exist!)
Yes Maia, There is a Santa Claus. You just wait and see in 17 days.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And I will just copy paste here the editorial from The Sun from which the title of this post spun from. We also used this for my college pub's editorial page (the year I first sat as the Editor In Chief) for a Christmas edition way back in '99 (i'm not so sure now).
I just wanted to bookmark it here for Maia to read when she's older. I just feel all kids should get the chance to read this. It exudes so much positivity and hope. That is how I've always looked at Christmas as a child.
Yes Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus
"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."
VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."
VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
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