Our 23rd wedding anniversary is actually May 5 but Lauren will leave for a beach outing tomorrow so we celebrated our dinner at Portico tonight.
Lauren started driving at 18 years old, rather I enrolled her at a driving school when she turned 18. I figured that she’d learn to drive a car using stick-shift just like I did at her age, instead of an automatic. We didn’t own an automatic car that time. I pride myself in being a teacher to my kids in (practically any topic) ever since they were babies but not driving. No, no….no
I want you to watch this youtube video of Happy Slip and Kevin as the latter learns to drive a stick-shift car. View it till the end because that’s the way I felt after I went on a practice driving session with Lauren the first time.
Put it in Purse
Love is in the air these days. What better way to feature love than through the eyes of a bride in her dream wedding gown. Every wedding gown has its own story to tell. If it could speak, it would be the guardian of memories for the night. It isn’t just proof of one’s most beautiful state; it is witness to the gamut of our emotions, from the moment it is put on to the time it is returned to the box. Instead of featuring socialites in their fancy wear, why not feature our lovely Filipina bloggers? Guess who is who in these photos!
Happy New Year 2008! I greeted the New Year by taking a slice of this evil Dairy Queen Peppermint Ice Cream cake. Let’s all greet the new year on a positive note by setting goals for ourselves. It’s a good thing that my sister reminded me of my New Year goals last year. Yesterday, she read the Review of New Year Goals for 2007 and it reminded her to set her goals. Butch loved the idea of writing down my goals when I told him that I achieved 8 out of my 11 goals for the New Year.
I realize that goals need to be written down. It serves as an affirmation of myself, my life, and my ability to choose. Then I let it go. New Year goals are something we need to dig within and discover what we would like to happen in our life this year. It is an affirmation that we are interested in living life in the year to come.
So the questions evolved. What would I like to attain? Where would I like to go? What would I like to happen in my marriage and family life? I have to remember that I am not out to control others with my goals but rather giving direction to my life. So I continue on pondering. What problems would I like to be solved? What decisions would I like to make? What would I like to happen in my business?
Merry Christmas to all my Christian readers!
Christmas 2007 is our first Christmas celebration in our new home, our third home. Last night, we celebrated our noche buena filled with joy and love. (View Photos of Christmas Eve Noche Buena 2007, Christmas Day Lunch)
Even the kitties at our home feel the Christmas Spirit. It’s as if they know it’s Christmas and play “cutesy” poses to blend with our Christmas decors. Like the song goes in “Christmas in Our Hearts” by Jose Mari Chan, I believe Christmas lies in our hearts. Everyone at home feels the Christmas spirit in their hearts.
So let me share Christmas in Our Hearts (as sang by my two girls and the 1999 Manila Children’s Choir) so the message rings all throughout the year:
Warning: Not for the Grinch or those suffering the Holiday Blues. This is dedicated to Aileen’s Paskong Pinoy compilation.
If you have read our love story, you would know that this is our 30th Christmas together of which seven years were spent physically apart from each other. Those seven Christmases were spent with my dad and siblings in Cebu. You can imagine what it was like for a lovestruck couple like us who had no means of communication during the two week break. Sure, there was the expensive long distance calls which needed an operator to get a connection. Suffice it to say that all he could manage to blurt out was Merry Christmas…how are you?…sige, expensive na. Love you. bye. which reminds me of that Smart commercial over the radio. No lovers’ conversation. No time to swoon or babble sweet nothings. Nada.
Lucky for most couples these days, there is email, text messaging, cellphone calls, video chat and what not. I yearned to be with my boyfriend during Christmas day but I knew that my family of origin was my number one priority. The meaning of Christmas is about God’s love that He brought Jesus Christ to this world. Christmas is about love , the love and joy of family. I understood that well.
To make up for the physical separation, the 18 year old Butch started this brillant idea of having an annual Christmas dinner date tradition where we celebrated the Christmas message of love. Our love. On our first Christmas date together by the Manila Bay, the hopelessly romantic Butch held my hand and pointed our hands towards the moon as if we were holding the moon together. In the most seductive voice, he whispered to my ears:
don’t worry, my love. Even if we are not together on Christmas day, just stare at the moon. Hold it and know that I am holding it too. We are together in spirit. The moon sees us.
Deeply touched and giddy all over, the equally hopelessly romantic me almost cried at his sappiness. He assured me that this separation was only temporary and that we would be spending Christmas for the rest of our lives. Every Christmas day in Cebu for the next 7 years, I strolled outside my home standing there by the garden, blanketed by the twinkling stars trying to hold the moon and knowing that Butch would do the same. (of course, I cannot vouch that he was doing the same.)
Why are there so many pillows on our bed? , my husband asks as he slips himself into our satin bedcovers.
I don’t understand. He shakes his head.
I started to count the pillows. one …two…three…THIRTEEN!
Oops, I didn’t realize there were so many pillows strewn on our beds , I thought. Um, I teased, so we never ran out of pillows when we have a fight?
Butch throws one small pillow at me. Okay, I think our bed designer over did the execution., as I told him about Timmy.
A few weeks ago, Timmy, our bed/window designer begged for work, “Ma’am, I really need money this coming Christmas”. With his talent, he should be earning more than the 6,000 pesos that his current employer pays him every month. I couldn’t believe he earns just slightly more than our household helper. He suggested a new set of custom-made quilted bedcovers. I thought it was a splendid idea to add another set in my room and the two girls’ room. At the same time, I am helping someone without giving dole outs. I normally don’t give cash gifts just like that. I’d rather they offer services and then give a bonus if the work turned out quite exceptional.
A candle signifies life and light and so the burning of a candle brings light and life to the memory and to the hearts of the bereaved. It is not that a candle has any magical or mystical powers as it is not the candle itself that heals. The lighting of a small candle in the darkness somehow helps you to draw aside from the blaring distractions. It brings an err of calm and helps you focus on what is important at that time. Something very special happens when a large group lights candles. A feeling of unity and oneness occurs.
While candles burn in one time zone, they will be lit in the next as thousands of families around the world participate in a vigil tomorrow, on December 9 to honor their children and siblings. The annual Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting starts at 7 p.m.
New Zealand goes first.
The Christmas tree is up. Hundreds of tiny lights are dancing around the trimmed Christmas tree. The girls’ Christmas stockings look perfect on the wall… Read More »A Magical Christmas Tradition