Tired from aimlessly walking around the Eastwood mall, I sat by the door with my daughter while waiting for Butch to pick me up. Who would drop by in front of me but this friendly Santa Claus who then chirped “Hello” with a gleaming smile. I smiled back at him and asked for a photo. Snap…

santa claus and my wishlist

Santa Claus is so much a part of my childhood memories. Feeling like a kid, I wanted so much to have a photo shoot with Santa Claus again. My overweight dad was often chosen to wear Santa Claus costume during children’s parties. I was five years old when I first caught daddy playing Santa Claus in parties. He was dressed all in red and white fur, from his head to his foot. A bundle of toys flung on his back, and he looked like a peddler just opening his pack. As he handed me a gift, I saw his wedding ring and my eyes beamed “Daddy is Santa Claus”. He pretended not to hear me but I knew. For some reason, I still believed in Santa Claus.

I stopped believing Santa Claus was real by the age of seven. It was my sister Lorna who told me that she caught dad placing gifts by the bed. For some reason, I was not disappointed. In my child’s mind, daddy is the real Santa Claus.

It’s always good for us to pause
And think awhile of Santa Claus–
That jolly symbol we revere
When we approach the changing year.
Behind his beard so long and white,
In which our children take delight,
There beats a heart from color free
Which bids all children “come to me.”
MARSHALL M. MORGAN, “The Spirit of Santa Claus

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Football is like life – it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority. Vince Lombardi

Congratulations Azkals. You made every Filipino proud because of your perseverance and heart towards the sport. We are still proud you made it to the Semi-finals despite the challenges in the training. Congratulations Indonesia.
azkals-celebration
Photo credit:firequinito.com

The Philippines’ magical run in the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup came to a halt Sunday night after falling prey to Indonesia, 0-1, in the second leg of their semifinal clash at Jakarta’s Bung Karno Stadium.

Defeated but unbowed.

Thank you for finally bringing football to the Philippines. There are more football lovers now. It all starts here, so keep going and continue on. We’ll keep on dreaming.

Like @aupijuan said in Twitter, “Azkals Christmas gift to us was giving us hope that Filipinos can truly be good at FOOTBALL. Thank You Azkals!”

I admire the discipline it took to get this far and I agree with @hotmainila in Twitter that even “Note: with no tradition, no record and not even a frigging stadium to call its own, PH made it to the semis”

Perhaps it is time to encourage football starting with our kids.

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg

Facebook co-founder is the person of the year.

For connecting more than half a billion people and mapping the social relations among them; for creating a new system of exchanging information; and for changing how we all live our lives.

Why am I not surprised?

Facebook reconnected me with old friends, relatives who have migrated abroad and then reunited.

Facebook brought me new friends.

Facebook widened the subscription of my food blog to over 17,000 facebook users.

Facebook allowed me to share information about voter’s education, grief support and online advocacies like the FilipinaImages.com

Facebook is a playground to relax , a place to unwind and just browse through the activities of my friends. How I love the updates.

Facebook is a fast way to contact a friend, even faster than email.

Facebook has indeed changed how we all live our lives in ways that are innovative and even optimistic.

You all know that, of course or else you would not have gotten here and read my blog entry.

Mark Zuckerberg is the man who brought us all here in Facebook.

Photo Credit to Time

““Real justice will not come from a human court, only from God.” says Bishop Aniceto Arigo

lauro-vizconde-in-tears
My heart goes out to Lauro Vizconde. He broke down as the the Supreme Court decision was read. Why wouldn’t he feel devastated? He lost his family 19 years ago. Justice is all he wanted. As a mother of a young kids in 1991, I was so worried that a crazed killer might just be lurking around. My kids are adults now and they still remember the bloody murders.

But this is the Supreme Court giving the decision. Voting 7-4, the high court ordered Webb’s release due to inconsistencies in the testimony of star witness Jessica Alfaro and the failure of the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.

It does not help that Freddie Webb is spewing out insensitive remarks to Lauro Vizconde, ” Instead of being aggrieved, maybe he should be happy that an innocent person is coming out of jail”. It is a joyous occasion for Freddie Webb but why would I expect Lauro to be happy? He was seeking justice for the death of his family members. Think it is easy to accept the decision, if justice has not been served. Think if your family was wiped out. The traumatic and savage circumstances surrounding the murder creates these unbearable waves of emotion. Then Freddie is just feeling relief that his son has finally been released after 15 years. The Webbs are also victims of the justice system.

What is justice anyway? Justice is the firm and continuous desire to render to everyone that which is his due. The Webbs got their justice. Lauro Vizconde is still seeking it. There is no justice.

Justice over the deaths in the Vizconde family has not been realized yet. In time, God will reveal his plan. In HIS time. Maybe Lauro will not get the justice here on Earth. I have faith that justice will be served in HIS time. Faith is all Lauro needs right now even if justice seems bleak.

My friend, Cathy feels the same way I do, “Prayers now for tolerance, wisdom and kindness. Joy for Webb et al but also strength and kindness for Mang Lauro who was mired in grief for 19 years. The verdict is like a second death. But to be wrapped once more in vengeance would be like a second prison too. Divine justice, in His time.”

““The Supreme Court is not the last court. We have what we call divine justice because … our capability as human beings is limited.”

Indeed, the Supreme Court found Webb et al. ““legally innocent,” but they have no way of determining their ““moral guilt or innocence.” The Supreme Court is just human and can only establish legal guilt. Moral guilt is beyond its competence. It is only God who has a say on one’s moral guilt.

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“No one school is right for every child. When searching for a school for your child, the question is not whether a particular school is good or bad, but whether it’s the right school for your child. You might ask the school, ‘What is your definition of a successful child at this school?’ or ‘What kind of child would find success here?'” David Harris

school-dayIt must have been two years ago that I told my daughter to write a guest post in my blog on bullying. She didn’t hesitate to share her experience to my readers because doing so will raise awareness to parents that their kids should never ever be bullied at school.

One thing I do know is that a lot of the insecurities I have about myself is rooted in the fact that I got bullied a lot during my early elementary school years….they pass it off as play, or maybe an early life lesson: the world can be a terrible place filled with people who will treat you with undeserved cruelty. I do understand that kids have to grow up and learn that hard lesson someday, but I think anyone under the age of ten is too young to deal with that much reality. At that age, it’s important for children to learn to accept or at least respect people for exactly who they are instead of making fun of their differences. What kind of lesson will be passed on to them if their elders shrug off bullying as something totally normal?

Her reflection of her bullying experience just tore me apart. I felt so helpless because during those days, children just had to deal with bullies. I considered moving schools but all the schools in the nineties were just Montessori-imitations or the usual large traditional schools. Parents are fortunate these days because they face a wide range of options aside from traditional Catholic schools that I attended to. Take for example, homeschooling that my friends, Jen and Julie are doing to their young kids. Then there are the non-traditional schools , the alternative to traditional schools.

As a mom blogger, I get a chance to visit non-traditional schools and check out their curriculum and programs. This is an opportunity to share these information to my readers and for them to discern if this is the right school for their child.
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hercules-city

The election results are now official. My sister, Myrna emailed me a few minutes ago “I won second place (75 votes less than John Delgado). The important thing is I am elected! Now on to governing.”

us-midterm-elections-california

I am so happy for her, thrilled that I was there in the last two crucial weeks and helping out in the mini rallies. She won a seat in the city council of Hercules. In 2013, she will be the vice-mayor and on 2014, the first lady mayor of the city. Many of you asked me if my sister won. I purposely did not make an announcement pending official results. The winner was known 4 hours later but you never know. I didn’t want to jinx it.

Filipino-Americans are slowly having a voice in their communities. My sister won because she had a proven track record of competence, commitment, and character as a a community member in the Planning Commission. Oath-taking will be on December 14 and suddenly I miss my sister.

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Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most.– Ruth Carter Stapleton

Christmas lights always gives me that warm fuzzy feeling that glows inside for the entire season. It brings me so much joy. Childhood memories of twinkling lights and Christmas carols are enough to lift my spirits during the holiday season. Through the years that I lived in Pasig, the lights in the Meralco compound never fails to mesmerize me as the car passes by.

meralco-christmas-lights2
It never occurred to me that Meralco has been opening its gates to the public for a long time now, giving delight to kids from ages 1 to 92. Yes, not just young kids but kids at heart like me. I didn’t have to think twice being invited together with other bloggers to witness the Christmas lighting tonight.

meralco-christmas-lights6
CEO Manny Pangilinan together with other very important guests marked the lighting event. For Meralco, lighting up their Ortigas compound symbolizes the light of Jesus Christ whose coming to the world brings joy and hope to the young and old.
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Just letting you all know that I blog for the Family & Parenting section of Philstar.com UNBLOGGED every Tuesday for the next three months. Well, UNBLOGGED is the official blog section of philstar.com. It features emerging and seasoned bloggers dishing out fresh content on a myriad of topics that shape up today’s popular culture-delivered in a laid-back but no-nonsense style that is sure to keep readers informed and entertained.

My first article was about “Parenting in a Digital World” and my second is “The Truth about the Birds and the Bees”, an excerpt of which is below:

children1I often monitor the keywords in my blog to check which entries are popular or not. One keyword, ““sex,” brought me a number of hits. That puzzled me the first time I saw it but apparently, it was pointing to my ““sex education in the Philippines” entry that I wrote in 2006. It continues to receive comments from parents and students four years after I posted it. Why? Sex education is a controversial topic, made more relevant with the Reproductive Health bill that has yet to be passed. It shows that people are searching for more information on sex education. The people who continue to fight against sex education should listen to the parents and our children because they are the ones affected by it.

read more at Unblogged

Philstar_unblogged 2

Abraham Lincoln once said “What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself.”

I think Yolly Ong is just making it worst.

diva-kay-ganda

“Coordinated online outrage?” Where did she get that idea? A lot of social media users are scratching their heads now over Yolly Ong’s “Pilipinas Kay Pangit” article.

A wide range of comments from social media users describe her piece as:

“self-righteousness”
“arrogance”
“tackiness”
“pikon”
“Typical holier-than-thou ”
“kung walang blunder, walang issue”
“target of a conspiracy theory”

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Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. ~Melody Beattie

gratitude-rainbowspiral1

I am right now in Cebu. I am beginning to love this place. There is still something missing about Cebu that makes me sad. Perhaps because I often travel to Cebu just to bury a family member. Just when I made peace with the deaths of family members, another chaos ensued after a class reunion, then a death of a classmate. Making sense out of a chaotic situation is futile especially if the door is shut in front of you.

A conversation from a dear friend tonight jolted me out of chaos when she said that “there are more important relationships that need responding to just like what you have just done; gving comfort to parents who lost a child.”
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