pasko na, sinta ko

Christmas is officially in the house!

popped in mr. c's One Christmas cd last night and with the strains of "pa-dum-pa-dum" (it's a tradition, yet again) put up the Christmas tree in record-breaking time - 2 hours! that's fast, considering that it's a 10-ft. tree. and that's just decor; the driver put in the lights earlier in the day. took him a couple of hours to do it, too!

not so frilly this year. no glass beads, no poinsettias, no ribbons. just lights, icicles, and balls. lots of balls!

the tree is so busog with balls, i love it! i asked gueli to make sure that each bough had a decor so that it wouldn't be "lonely." he found a lonely branch earlier tonight. needless to say, we fixed the situation.

i'm so tempted to get more Christmas balls. somebody stop me!

must... have... balls!

my date with a turkey

i hardly know any filipino family that celebrates thanksgiving. you know, the one with the turkey, stuffing, cranberries, and eggnog? well, my family does. for a patriotic family, it's very american. ironic.

thanksgiving in my family is no laughing matter. it has survived four generations so far (and counting). it is THE occasion to be present at, lest you want to be disowned by the stickler of family tradition and patriarch, my (one and only) uncle benny. even being out of the country was not an excuse! you made your presence felt via overseas phonecall... and be sure to call early enough to let everyone know that you called.

i remember struggling with the thanksgiving schedule when i was an executive producer. i kinda received flak for arriving one time with everyone gone. thank God, aly waited up for me. of course, uncle benny (who is also my godfather) waited up too. like a marine, he was not to rest until the last of his "men" came in. there are no excuses to be absent. tardy, maybe; absent, never.

despite the self-imposed pressure, i like thanksgiving. it makes me feel that my family's special. it's also a good excuse to eat and feast! all diets go out the window on thanksgiving. how often do you get to have turkey (and lola's bread stuffing), anyway?

truthfully, i celebrate thanksgiving every morning, when i wake. each day i'm given a chance to be of service or make a difference; to be able to teach, perhaps a child or a colleague... or perhaps be taught by a child, or a colleague, or by God.

this thanksgiving was no different except perhaps for the bigger audience. this year, we celebrated the gift of life like never before. for my uncle benny, for pulling out of a troublesome aspiration. to be given another chance, perhaps because he has more to teach. for the doctors who kept him alive... because he is my one-and-only. for my brother and sister-in-law, for the gift of life in my sister-in-law's womb. to be given a chance to have a family, perhaps be a changed person.

yup, this was one thanksgiving dinner i was not going to miss. not for fear of being disowned but because i truly have a lot to be thankful for. for family and the traditions that keep family ALIVE, we give thanks and celebrate!

creatures, churches and landforms

my photos, jali's camera, two days well spent.

true love

title caught your attention, didn't it? :) so sorry to disappoint.

this is what made my day on my last birthday. no one told him to make one and he spelled everything all by himself! it's what i always tell him (it's a weird way to affirm him, i know, but it works!) but he beat me to getting it on paper.

tell me, how could you NOT love this child? :)

redemption

i forget which sunday it was, but that's not what's important.

it was a ho-hum afternoon, perfect for napping. i was lounging on mom's bed, minding my own business, when in comes mother and son (sis and miguel) who decide to have a tickle fest on the very bed on which i lay. maybe it was envy (me almost dozing off) or maybe it was fatigue (tickle fests CAN get tiring), but my sis comes up with a brilliant idea. "let's include ninang!" she shouts (or something to that effect. i forgot that one as well. again, not important.).

then miguel says, "okay, me and ninang against mommy!" at which point, i leave la-la-land and pin the mastermind under my hands and knees. she is helpless; she is at her son's mercy.

"go for the belly button!" i cry. and the obedient soldier charged on, happily conquering his foe.

aghast and beaten, she exclaims, "you sold me! you sold me!" to which the wise reply came, "well, it was a choice between where i came from or who would win. i chose 'who would win.'"

and win i did. important. mwahahahaha!

surviving milenyo

not since the 4-hour scheduled brownouts of the 90s have i been in the dark for so long. the last typhoon to cross manila's path, milenyo, not only knocked down trees and power lines; it literally knocked us back into the "dark ages" for 3 days! and with a 6-year old in the house (who that morning said he loved tv more than he did his ninang, me! i ranked no. 3 after his mom and the boob tube), entertainment becomes quite a challenge - both for the entertainer (me again) and the entertained (him).

it bogs my mind how our "forefathers" did it back then. we'd eat dinner before it got dark (although we had emergency lights, my brother refused to use them... in case there was an emergency. duh!) and be in bed by 6:30 p.m.!

some notes on what darkness brings:

1. conversation, good or otherwise. with the tv dead, we actually spoke to one another again. call it my sweet revenge for placing me in number 3! ha! we were back to making silly stories and composing senseless songs too!
   
   
2. piano lessons from a 6-year old. short of giving a concert, migueli practically played all the piano pieces he's learned... and then some. the kid's pretty good and i admire his industriousness for practicing his pieces. such a far cry from what mama aly and i went through at the same age... but that's another blog altogether.
   
   
3. singing the piano. miguel would sing / hum the right hand notes; i, the left hand. then switch. it's hilarious to hear!
   
   
4. flashlight tag. an old class favorite when i used to have pajama parties in my preschool classes. for variety purposes, you can also do flashlight marksmanship. similar to pin-the-tail except you use flashlights and furniture.
   
   
5. arts and crafts in the daylight... from stenciling to create your own pokemon.
   
   
6. naps galore! it's been a while since the kid's taken a 2-hour nap. perfect scapegoat while i run to school to juice up the cellphone. i even got to have pizza with mama aly and the kids in the process too!
   
   
7. dress up. i have new-found respect for the versatility of a thin sheet blanket. sandygirl has pictures.
   
   
8. count your blessings. surviving the storm, i could not get over how blessed i was / am to be surrounded by family, to be where i was, to have a roof over my head and food on the table, to have ice in my water, to be safe, and much, much more.

God's light surely dispels all darkness!

"do THIS is memory of me"

as a religion teacher to first communicants, i teach my kids that the mass is an invitation to receive Christ and a "re-enactment" of the last supper. fr. mark gave me a new insight on the above.

in the last supper, Christ offered himself, body and blood, for the love of man. quite literally, He gave it HIS ALL. and THAT is what He wants us to do in memory of Him... to give our all.

all for Christ. how simple, yet very difficult to do.

cheap thrill

la pacita toast with vanilla ice cream. promise!

and diko makes four

i probably owe my "career" as a "ninang ng bayan" to mama aly. her brood alone is a bayan in itself!

mama aly and freddie have four children: two of each species. of the four, i am officially godmother to 3: to mara and selene since baptism; to dino since his confirmation only 3 years ago. that leaves diko gian... but not for long.

the other night, while online, he asked me to "officially" become his ninang. of course, i said "yes." truth is, i've been waiting for the invite since his baptism, just like dino. and like dino, i never treated gian any less. the boys were always like godsons to me. they got the whole treatment, including the personalized birthday shopping trips.

that he asked me to be his ninang made my day (i hope as much as i made his). gian was always special because he wanted this as young as 5 or 6... and the kid really knows how to make me feel it, too! part of our ym chat went like this...

"even if you're not officially my ninang, i love you as one in my heart"

awwww... how could you not melt?! i am only too happy to make it "official" in his heart.

i used to be a fish

i'm a twice certified open water scuba diver... since 1990. twice because my first c-card got lost when i was pickpocketed in shang; had to be re-certified by padi years after since ssi couldn't reissue me a replacement. (come to think of it, my padi c-card was in the wallet that was stolen in camp! oh no!)
i was diving long before it came into fashion. it was such a small diving community back then. we'd have a divers' party twice a month (always on a tuesday) and everybody knew everybody, literally! i remember my lessons costing php 3,750, a big amount back then. oops! i'm beginning to show my age! yes, everything was dirt cheap then.
i loved diving. it's a totally different world down there and one cannot help but marvel and be in awe. truly, only God could have made such a beautiful, colorful playground for the denizens of the deep.

i was addicted to diving. the first 3 months after my certification, i was underwater EVERY WEEKEND. i would come home from trips abroad, rest one day to let the nitrogen in my blood settle, then go off diving with my buddies. tessa and i would go diving on a whim... our "one-day-wonders," we used to call them.

i did some of my best thinking underwater. everything was so calm and tranquil in the deep blue that clarity of mind hit you just as soon as you hit the water.

and the best beer i had came after a dive. i don't know why but i do know that other divers will agree with me on this.

used to. those are the operative words in the title.

you see, i have all this dive gear... and they're all dry. they have been for yeeeaaars now. that they're still in pretty good shape is suprising, actually. i remember spending a fortune on the stuff. dad paid for my reg and asked me to make sure that i got the best (back then) since that was my second heart underwater (spoken like a true cardiologist).

i got an invitation to dive during the last holiday. i passed. after years of remaining on dry land, i probably need a refresher course. i probably wouldn't fit into my wet suit either. i lent my gear to some friends though, so at least they (the gear) saw some action... at least they were able to say hi to the fish again.

maybe i'll get wet again.