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November 2008

Christmas Songs Playlist

christmas tree
The twinkling rice lights of our Christmas Tree gleam in our living room. Along the staircase, traditional red and green Christmas ornaments drape the sides. The girls’ stockings hang near the landing, as if waiting for small gifts on Christmas day. One thing that you will hear in my home are Christmas carols streaming in every nook and corner. There’s nothing like setting the mood for my baking chores or simply when I am busy with office work. It’s what drives me to glamorize the house a little bit for Christmas without noticing the great tasks ahead. Whether I hum along with the church chorus, the melody and the simple lyrics will never cease to mesmerize and attune me to the holiday mood.

Let me share 4 playlists I organized from this online music site.

The playlist of Filipino Christmas Carols below, I collated for you to add more joy to your Christmas celebration. The first song in the track is Pasko na Sinta ko sung by my two girls and three other members of the Manila Children’s Choir in 1999. The second track is ““Kasadya ni Takna-a” the original version (Pasko ay Sumapit) as sung the way it should be.

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Photo Hunt- Metal (The Amish Buggy)

Photo Hunt’ s Theme today is Metal. The most obvious symbol of the Amish is their horse-drawn buggy which is made of metal.

I took shots of this buggy as my brother and I checked out a harness shop at the Amish/Mennonite Community in Jamesport, Missouri last month. I saw a lot of the Amish and Mennonite people and of course we saw many horse and buggies along the way.
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Thank You For the Music

Last night, my nephew, the son of Oscar, my late brother asked me if I knew the notes of his dad’s award winning composition Pangarap ng Musmos (Dream of the Youth) which was played over 30 years ago in an Ateneo College Music Festival. I told him I didn’t have it but if he can hear the notes, it is easy to take it down. Honestly, I haven’t heard my brother’s composition for a long time now and decided to turn it on again. As I listened to “Pangarap ng Musmos”, the tears just rolled down my cheeks as the lilting music streamed through my bedroom. As I watched a video of my brother playing Love Story on the piano, the more I sobbed. What irony! He was dying of leukemia as he played the melody.

I missed my brother so much and listening to his music made me feel he was right there in the room, playing it for me. The heartfelt passion as he played every note in the piano moved me so much. I also missed my other brother Reuben and my dad and mom. I counted 4 deaths in my family of origin. not counting my own son. Five deaths in my immediate family.

It is easy to count what we do not have.

I cannot ignore fleeting moments of nostalgia. In my sadness, I assessed what I had. I counted my blessings.

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ABS CBN TV Patrol in Copyright Violation

Update at the end of this entry

It is rare for me to rant in my blog unless of course, there is a positive resolution in the end. I also believe that when I have problems with services or products, I give the business owners or officers a way out. Ranting without doing anything about it is just not my cup of tea. In most cases, my bitch powers work and I often get satisfactory results. Being married to a lawyer, I often hear my husband say that one should try amicable settlement before filing a suit. Our courts are swamped with thousands and upon thousands of court cases that have yet to be resolved years later.

I also don’t believe in pulling strings to get my message across. I feel that one should start with the persons involved before bringing it to the highest officer or persons involved in my complaint.

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Bloggers Join The Impeach-Arroyo Drive

Manolo Quezon and bloggers filed a complaint for intervention seeking to include the thwarted Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to the charges in the impeachment complaint against President Gloria M. Arroyo. I admit I am not that knowledgeable of the political situation but thanks to my dear husband he explained to me Why The Intervention in the Impeachment Case is Proper and Should Be Allowed. The intervention move seeks to include among the grounds for impeachment GMA’s complicity in the aborted MOA which would have established a Bangsamoro Juridical Entity and effectively given away a significant chunk of the republic to the MILF. This can be viewed as treason.

I laud the bloggers for taking this action. It’s so easy to blog, rant, talk and comment about the state of our nation, our president and the corruption and all we want in our blogs and I believe it is not enough.

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Michelle Obama As a Mom

Photo from MSNBC

Photo from MSNBC

While watching the loving family of Barack Obama on the stage of Grant Park, I wondered what lay ahead of their family. Her interviews with media shows her active mommy role. In a Newsweek interview, she hopes that ““…we do some of what we’ve been doing for the last year and a half. That we really treat our family life as separate as you can, that we keep the girls’ lives very set apart from this whole experience.”

The future first lady frequently adjusted her schedule during the presidential campaign so she could return to her home in Chicago at night to be with her daughters.

In the same interview, she hoped that her mom could come live with them. ““The girls are going to need her, as part of their sense of stability. And what is true for my mom is that she does anything for us and her grandkids. All they have to do is look at her with sad eyes and she’s done for.” I agree with my friend, Cathy that this is very similar to our Filipino trait. As Filipinos, we often want a caregiver or loving relative watch over our kids when we are away for a long period of time. I know Michele may have to be with her husband for Official dinners or visits. Some things can’t be helped just like all working mothers have business to attend to.

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Dealing with Death at Mom Works Lifestyle Channel


Mom’s the Word, a feature from Mom Works in the Lifestyle Channel touched on how I turned around my grief, co-founded The Compassionate Friends (support group after a death of a child) in December 2005 together with my dear friends, Cathy Babao-Guballa and Alma Miclat. The feature also shows how I started this blog on February 2006.

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The Hope of Obama and A Mother’s Hope


Lauren arrived from San Francisco early yesterday morning. She left about the time that Barack Obama was unofficially announced as the elected 44th President of the United States. Naturally, she brought along an Obama souvenir tshirt which says “HOPE” with a hopeful-looking Obama at the front and “Nope” printed at the back with a frowning McCain. I could have worn it but the sleeves make me look fat in it.

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Barack Obama is Elected the 44th President of the USA

November 4, 2008– Before Poll Closed

Here is the real-time election results widgets that will be shown Nov. 4, US time! Watch the electoral vote count and the congressional balance of power with the national U.S. map or choose a state and see how individual counties are voting. As soon as either McCain or Obama is declared the winner, you and I will know!

The countdown will be replaced automatically by the map a couple hours before the first polls close. (If you can’t view the widget, just look out for the interactive electoral map)

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a mom blogger who advocates constructive engagement in issues on family & society.
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