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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Feast Of The Epiphany

Happy Feast of the Epiphany!

Christmas season has just ended. It’s something that I look forward to every year. No matter what the circumstances, the event is just so wonderful.  Not every one of us of course enjoy celebrating it, what with the attached commercialism to its celebration.  Allow me to say for the last time  early this year. “Merry Christmas”. 

Until next December.

 

“We three kings of Orient are
Bearing gifts, we traverse far
Field and fountain
Moor and mountain
Following yonder star

Oh, star of wonder, star of might
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading
Still proceeding
Guide us to thy perfect light….”

May the rest of the year be a fruitful, joyful, peaceful and a happy one for us. So many things to discover, so many things to explore.

What is your gift to the world?

(photo culled from the net)

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Today’s Quote

When you’ve got nowhere to go – walk

Having a place to go is a home

Having someone to love is family

Having both is a true blessing.

– richard paul evans

That group shot is a bit grainy. We asked Nate’s yaya to take our family photo. Christmas Eve 2014

 

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Counting The Days

Morning wakes

The wind bites

And I stay here

thinking –

Summer is rainy

And I laugh

realizing –

It is the middle of August.

The rain comes in torrents

but for a while

the sun breaks through

the clouds.

It’s a big, wide world.

And I smile at the thought

of another lovely day.

And I count the days

till Christmas comes.

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Do You Hear What I Hear?

It’s the start of the BER months and in our country, it’s the official start of the Christmas season. It has been said that we celebrate the longest Christmas ever so just to start the day and the month of September, I am posting a Christmas song here. I’ve just had a LSS this morning humming this song silently in my head.

♫♪♫♫Said the night wind to the little lamb,
“Do you see what I see?
Way up in the sky, little lamb,
Do you see what I see?
A star, a star, dancing in the night
With a tail as big as a kite.”

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy,
“Do you hear what I hear?
Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy,
Do you hear what I hear?
A song, a song, high above the tree
With a voice as big as the sea.”

Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king,
“Do you know what I know?
In your palace warm, mighty king,
Do you know what I know?
A Child, a Child shivers in the cold—
Let us bring him silver and gold.”

Said the king to the people everywhere,
“Listen to what I say!
Pray for peace, people, everywhere,
Listen to what I say!
The Child, The Child sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light,
He will bring us goodness and light.”♪♪♫♪

Do you know that this song was written in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis as a powerful plea for peace by a man who had experienced the horrors of war? It was composed by Noel Regney and Gloria Shayne.

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Remembering You In Prayers Dad

I can’t believe that it’s  only been five years since you left us. It seems so long ago, that day when you finally said goodbye.  Memories are sometimes tricky, they’re like a closed book that you only have to open to refresh the pages and the story in your mind.  Know one thing Dad, I cry because you didn’t have the opportunity to see your cute and cuddly great-grandson. If you were alive today, you would have smiled at the way we were all going gaga over our little Nate. You would have tried holding his tiny hands and marveled at the way he kick his feet when he goes hungry.  If you were alive today, you would  have regaled us with your stories when we were growing up and how you dreamed of us all going to your favorite university where you worked for thirty-two years.  I always loved to listen to them anyway even though sometimes you did forget that you told them more than a dozen times already because every story became more meaningful with the re-telling.

I got lost on my way home the last time I said goodbye to you.  I was full of thoughts with what you said earlier that day that you saw some of our relatives calling you home, Tatay especially. I dreaded the sound of the telephone and prayed hard that it would not ring, and when it did, I knew you were gone.

I used to listen to Josh Groban’s You Raise Me Up because of its meaningful lyrics but when I learned that they  played the song  during your funeral, it acquired a different meaning for me because I always remember you  and it makes me sad so I stopped listening.  But I also recall your fondness for classical music and your Johnny Mathis’ Merry Christmas album.  Do you remember, it has become a favorite too and now that it is Christmas once again, I listen to some of the songs on YouTube and picture you in my mind, listening to the old LP album on our small player.  And celebrating Christmas would not be complete without the music of Johnny Mathis 🙂  I am listening to it now and I smile and say in my heart, Merry Christmas Dad!

I miss you….still!

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It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

We normally put up Christmas decorations at the end of November each year but since my artistic daughter is not around to help, I persuaded my son to bring down some of those decorations we have accumulated over the years. Every year, we buy something new, a trinket here and there, new colors of Christmas balls depending on the color theme that we want to achieve. This time though, I want to recycle some decor that we seldom use. My morning was filled with memories of Christmas past.

Yesterday, I found these lovely wooden carts made of bamboo and rattan and I thought they would be perfect for those old decorations we have. There’s nothing like giving a new face to old things 🙂

Does it look like it was recycled? Except for the wooden cart, everything is old.

We have these flowers two years ago when we decided to have the old green and red motif for our Christmas tree.

It’s all red. I wonder where the other decor got to. I could not even find Christmas lights.

And this is an old jar which I used for  candies at Christmas time. I am giving it a new look too.

The final touch of that small vase I had earlier. I think it deserves a place along with my other Christmas decorations.

This is an all time favorite decor – a musical waterglobe with revolving outer globe by Kirkland, a regular fixture during Christmas for the last ten years or so.

Just a friendly tip, don’t throw away the original boxes of your Christmas decorations, they are easier to organize and keep after the holidays are gone. Even those nice shoe boxes and plastic biscuit tins come in handy for those small and delicate decor. Label the boxes for easy storing and identification.

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