Kris Kringle

I told you about our Kris Kringle a few days ago at our Sambuhay Interaktib Online,  a program that we watch twice a week anchored by two  Pauline priest friends and a seminarian.  We have become one big family, those who are active at the site but we are scattered.  Some live in Australia, Canada, USA, Hongkong, Italy and even in the Middle East. 

Well, the app was downloaded by one of our members and friend Min helped him with e-mailing those who participated. Yes, there is an app called Secret Santa.  Fr. Pao suggested that everyone could join although it is not compulsory.  We’ll finally have the “reveal” tomorrow via Zoom. My goodness, I am only just learning how it works because I didn’t see the need of downloading the app before.  I wonder how the more than fifty of us would go about it. 

A few hours ago, I received the gift from my Secret Mommy  sent through MrSpeedy, another online delivery option for us here. We were allowed to have a wish list that our Secret Santa could see in the e-mail.  

Despite this pandemic, we could still laugh. I am glad I found this group. Last night, the topic was about previous and memorable times spent during  Christmas.  Everyone has their own story. I am really looking forward to tomorrow’s 115th episode.  Come to think of it, this program was conceptualized by the SSP ( Society of Saint Paul) brothers and priests to make lighter moments and share laughter despite the grave threat of this pandemic.  And we have music in between. Fr. Albert and Bro. AJ have lovely voices. We gained friends in the process. Wonderful 🙂

We are on the seventh day of Simbang Gabi, two more days to go and we’ll complete the novena masses. 

 

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Looking Forward To 2020

So this is the second day of Christmas. And it will last till the Baptism of the Lord. It is the shortest season in the Catholic calendar. That would be in January 12 next year.

How was your Christmas celebration? Ours was a quiet one with the family. I like all the reflections during the nine days of Simbang Gabi.

We exchanged gifts on the 24th. I like all my gifts. They are thoughtfully given. Nate and I played with his two water guns at the garden. He was the Blue Boy (with the blue gun of course and I was the Orange Lady. Precious moments with Nate.

I still can’t figure out how to attach photos here since there are no pictures in this tab’s gallery. They are all stored in my new phone. ♡☆. I am still finding it hard to navigate this gadget and update here on WordPress.

Do you also look forward to 2020? May the winds of change create a positive outlook for all of us.

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Heartland Series 21

I hear the church bells ringing

Another day of anticipating

And waiting….

Getting closer to the day

When Christmas is

here.

 

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Gratitude

I was having my own reflections while watching the sharers of  The Seven Last Words. A long time ago, during one of the  retreats I attended, our guest speaker asked what was our favorite passage in the Bible and this came to mind.

It sums up everything that Christ did for mankind. He died so we may live.

Last Friday, lots of thoughts played in my head. The times when I had problems with my health, the times when everything was not okay, the sacrifices we have to endure with the family not complete, the things we dreamed of but not fulfilled. Everything seemed to be all complaints  with no sense of gratitude. When you are at that point that everything seems to be topsy turvy, sometimes you can’t even think of the good things coming your way. You seem so focused on the problems and not how to go about it until one day you wake up and say “problems are not really bigger than our lives”. You wake up to the fact that they are part and parcel of our lives.

Gosh I thought, I was just dizzy. The table was shaking and so was my monitor. There was a strong earthquake a few minutes ago while I was writing the first paragraph. I was so afraid, I have just Oreo in the house with me and he is pleasantly asleep in the comfort room. My monitor was shaking. God please protect us from such calamities. 

I lost my train of thought. Nissa just called me up asking how I am and how strong it was here. So many comments on FB. So it was 5.9 here in Luzon and  Metro Manila. 6.3 in Pampanga. Oh my.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will take care  about itself.  Each day has enough  trouble of its  own”. -Matthew 6:34

I love this passage too. Sometimes we worry too much to the point that our health is affected. We must learn to let go at let God.

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Three French Hens

This song was playing in my head early this morning. Today is the third day of Christmas.

♫♫♪♫On the third day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.♪♪♫♪

(Photo culled from the net)

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Those Moments

I know I said I am done with my last post for Christmas but I like to share some snippets of  some behind-the-scene moments  that we simply enjoyed.

Armed with the two empty boxes of Olay, Nate started singing some Christmas songs of old. We urged him to go and sing for mom and his tito Josef while Nissa and I were laughing so hard because Nate felt so hesitant to sing in front of them. All I heard clearly was “thank you, thank you, ang babait ninyo, thank you”. A typical line I always hear from street kids during Christmas. I laughed when he said “there is five thousand pesos there” referring to the 500-hundred peso bill that he got. He counted the new crisp twenties and he was happy. I remember last year I also gave him a big piggy bank and he said that it is almost full. I told him to make a habit of saving.

We had our snack around 4 pm and Nate finished two big slices of pizza. He said he loved Hawaiian flavors but I doubt if he really knows the difference. As long as it is pizza, everything is fine with him.  They waited for the dream cake to bake and brought home a tin together with two boxes of our native delicacy we call bibingka.

Obet and I were both craving for green mangoes  so we had one each. Loved it with sweet spicy bagoong.  A officemate gifted Josef with a jar of crunchy garlic in soybean oil. Perfect for dips with kalamansi and soy sauce.

It’s the second day of Christmas. ….♫♪two turtle doves and a partridge on a pear tree♪♪♫. Oh, I feel like singing.

Always strive to be happy. Joy comes when you are.

 

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Glancing Back, Looking Forward

Just done cooking something for dinner. It’s Pasta Bake with broccoli, cauliflower and diced ham cooked with a little cream then baked with quickmelt cheese on top. It would be a good partner for our steamed chicken siomai and fresh fruits.

Funny how we don’t even taste wine or any type of liquor here.  Just fruit juice or hot coffee will do.

It’s been a quiet day compared to yesterday’s celebration. We heard mass this morning at the Church then reheated some left over food last night for lunch. It is a quiet day to contemplate and think of the next year to come. It’s 2019 folks in a week’s time.

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Spending Christmas With The Family

Ah, that was a lovely Christmas lunch. And we almost forgot to take pictures except  for the group shot  and the food on the dining table before we had our lunch. Since Nissa’s family didn’t spend the night here, we have to open our gifts early.

Nate was a little impatient and he kept asking “Are you done eating Nonna? Can I open my gifts now?”. He was a little disappointed though when he didn’t receive more toys but clothes and cash gifts instead. He knows cash goes directly to his ITF savings account. I told him when he got his birthday gift last month that I won’t give him toys this Christmas. Right after, everyone got busy but we were so noisy around the dining table except for Nate who was busy watching cartoons, Obet sleeping and Kevin on his cellphone. Mom had that indulgent smile and was curious about what we were doing.  They prepared puto bungbong, some more orders of Dream Cake and we also ordered two boxes of pizza for snacks. Such a joyous family gathering.

Aside from her other gifts, Nissa gave me a Samsung phone with a 16 megapixel camera. I have to buy one more SIM card and a load.  I tried it with one of our potted blooms and the picture looked so sharp although the light was a little low because of the rain yesterday.

Mom and I  attended the midnight mass on television  after our Noche Buena  and  was officiated by Fr. Jerry Orbos, one of the best SVD priests around. Last February he met an accident and he questioned God’s wisdom. Why him? It was then that they found out about the stage 2 lung cancer.  He  has undergone surgery, been on chemotherapy. He is a little thin now but the zest for living and sharing His words are still there. He emphasized how faith could work wonders when you have nothing more to cling to except God’s mercy.  He talked about the importance of family. When everyone has given up on you, your family will still be there by your side. He talked about health, one thing that we should not ignore is our health. Trust in His goodness,  He would not let us be burdened by loads we can’t carry. I was touched by the prayers he shared in front of the image of the Holy Family.

We slept around 1:30 am and looked forward to today. Oops, I know this would be my  last post for Christmas this year.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS 🙂 🙂 🙂

 

 

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Merry Christmas

And before the day starts, I  want to greet you all a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!  And Christmas clock says it is 18 hours, 53 minutes.

Thank you for another year of journeying with me.

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Still Counting

It’s a wet, wet Sunday morning.  It’s been raining since I woke and it looks like it’s gonna rain come Christmas day. A bed weather indeed.

It is the fourth Sunday of Advent.  So what season comes next after Advent? You’re right, it’s Christmas.

Last night I attended the 8th Simbang Gabi and it is also an anticipated mass for today. I was praying the rosary before the evening mass when my bracelet rosary chain broke and the swarovski stones were scattered on the floor. The elasticized chain gave up on me  after so many years of continued use.  I normally wear it when I go out.  Good thing I still have four more rosary bracelets made of different materials and were gifts from close friends.  I make rosaries as gifts but I also receive several ones from friends as pasalubong  (souvenirs) from abroad  mostly from Vatican, Siena, Spain and from the Holy Land.  I even have a  ring rosary sent by a friend from Italy.

I went out for a while to buy some fruits from the village store. Local fruits are more expensive than the imported ones, the latter mostly from China.  Mangoes, papaya, melons,  pomelo –  they have it all there.  Pears and apples are plenty so with imported oranges.

And the Christmas clock says, it’s one day, fourteen hours to go before Christmas 🙂

 

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