Advent Season Is Here

The Catholic Church will be celebrating its first Sunday of Advent tomorrow where the first purple candle will be lit. It is called the Prophecy Candle which symbolizes Hope and God’s forgiveness toward man. It also symbolizes the expectation of the Messiah.

Come to think of it, it’s 28 days more to go before Christmas. Yes, I am counting but I am not much enthusiastic about decorating for Christmas. Last year, I bought a three-foot tall Christmas tree instead of putting our old seven-foot tree. Much as I want to change some decor, they have gone too high too like the basic commodities in supermarket and grocery stores. Our street though is now decorated with Christmas parols/stars in each front of the houses.

I am busy with our local government’s requirements for mom’s social pension which I should have done before but it’s only this time that I have her transferred as a permanent resident of our town since she has been with me for more than three years now. I already have her senior’s ID issued by the municipal hall. Our Dept. of Social Welfare and Development needs updated ID pictures of hers so I draped a white linen in one of our windows yesterday and took shot of her on my phone. I had it printed at the photo shop today together with three photos of us and Nate. I also bought three frames for the enlarged photos. I also started choosing more pictures for printing, got ten from several albums on my Facebook account.

I hear Christmas carols now being played at a department store near our place. Christmas time is definitely near.

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First Communion

I thought I posted the solo photo of Nate here before his First Communion last Friday. I already updated my other blog just for him and posted some pictures that Nissa took of the event. For a nine-year old, he is getting so tall. Obet and Nate’s grandpa and his uncles are all tall. Good thing he got the genes….😘😉🙂

He was the reader of the mass.

Time flies!

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Tuesday Thoughts

More memes I did yesterday. They are actually excerpts from my previous blog posts. I shared these with our two Catholic groups at our FB sites.

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TGIF

Just had a meeting with our chief admin and another admin at our Catholic page. Fr. Louie laid out his plans for our page in the next days until Holy Week.

I am now beginning to earnestly appreciate Zoom, whereas two months ago, I didn’t know how to use the app. Being active in our Catholic page and another Catholic group which I am admin is a big help in my life. I am learning a lot, gaining new friends in the process.

There are more people you’ll meet along life’s road, some would teach you a lesson, you make beautiful memories with a few, you laugh with many. I met a new friend at Sambuhay Interaktib, a co-admin actually, who have the same taste of books as I do. She has also read most inspirational books that I have read before. It is always fun to reminisce and remember. She writes too. There is no dull moment when we get the chance to talk.

I have been more active reading (done fourteen books) than visiting this blog. Sorry if I am quite slow in responding to your posts.

It’s Friday again, some of us always look forward to weekends. Have a lovely and blessed one.

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A Blessed Ash Wednesday

“Repent, and believe in the Gospel”. “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

It’s the beginning of Lent.

Today we celebrate Ash Wednesday.

I attended the 6:30 am mass this morning. So many lay ministers around to put ashes on the forehead of the mass goers. Ash Wednesday is a Christian holiday of prayer and fasting. It signifies that we ought to repent for our sins during the Lenten fast. Aside from the Advent and Christmas seasons, the observance of Lent is one thing that I also look forward to every year. It’s a beautiful tradition that we Catholics observe. This culminates on Easter Sunday. The priest reminded us that every person between the age of 18 and 59 (beginning of 60th year) must fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Senior citizens like me are exempted but if we are well and fit enough to observe it, so much the better.

I recently checked my dashboard after a few days of being absent from this blog. Gosh, it’s a good thing Akismet protects us from those spam comments which are usually from porn sites. Imagine, since I started blogging, there were 56,079 spam comments that I deleted from my blog posts. It is clearly annoying.

Thank you so much to all my new followers. Sorry, I haven’t visited your blogs yet but I will one of these days.

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Just Lovely

We had our twice-a-month marketing today. Timely preparation for the coming media noche. Costs of everything has gone up again. While almost every Filipino is struggling with high costs of commodities including basic goods, our rich politicians continue to amass wealth through corruption. Sorry, this is not what I want to blog about.

There is something wonderful about the giving qualities of my favorite vendors/sellers at the wet market. Every Christmas, they would give different gifts. Some gave me sturdy shopping bags, one gave me a recyclable grocery bag with zipper so you can fold into a wallet-sized one when you go out. I also received a hand towel from one of them. They may not be much for some people but it’s the thought that counts, right?

Cost of fruits have gone up again. I just bought two kilos of black seedless grapes and two pieces of honey dew. Come December 31, expect more mark-up on those different round fruits in the market. Filipinos have this tradition of serving twelve kinds of fruits during the new year. It is the only time in the year where you’ll find those fruits which are not necessarily sold during ordinary days.

I just hope 2020 will be a good year for all of us. HAPPY NEW YEAR in advance 🎉🎊💕🌷🍇🍎🍒

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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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Miércoles de Ceniza

Today is Ash Wednesday.

I unconsciously donned a red shirt early this morning to get ready for the early morning mass. When I switched on the TV, everyone in the morning show were wearing red. Oh gosh, I forgot. today is Valentine’s Day too. Haha, as  I don’t want to wear red, I have to change.  We don’t celebrate  the latter.

The church is full.  What a lovely homily reminding the faithful that Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent, a season of fasting and prayer.  The ashes symbolize the dust from which God made us.  Ashes also symbolize grief, grief that we have sinned. The wearing of ashes on our forehead  is a sign of penance.

Seeing those fake roses, teddy bears galore and stems of single roses wrapped in cellophane and tied with a red ribbon, I just smiled.  Will they be able to sell all those in a day? I wonder. Just like the celebration of Christmas, Valentine’s Day has been much commercialized.

Let’s celebrate love every day, not just on hearts’ day.

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