Christmas Program 2009

What used to be called Christmas Cantata, is now simply called Christmas Program at Renz's school. It surprised me initially since when my three older daughters studied there, it was always called Christmas Cantata.

See Renz's Christmas Cantata in 2007 and 2006.


Why it's not a Christmas Cantata

A cantata is defined as "a musical composition for voices and orchestra based on a religious text". I've watched the kids' Christmas numbers in school for many years. My only conclusion is that in recent years, most if not all of the numbers are DANCED and not SANG.

Anyway, in this year's Christmas Program, Renz played an angel in their class. The class sang "Silent Night" and "Jingle Bells". That's him at the left in the above photo.

The angel "wings" you see aren't really Renz's. They're the wings of another angel behind him. Renz's wings are actually smaller and inadvertently hid from view. :)

Misa de Gallo Philippines 2009

This year would be the first year that DH and I will be attending the Misa de Gallo consistently.

Today's the 6th day of the Misa de Gallo or Simbang Gabi as Filipinos call it locally. We were able to attend the 5:30am morning mass instead of the 4am because all the kids are now on Christmas break.

I have to say that there were more people attending the 4am mass rather than the 5:30am one. This is to the point that the church had to devise some new guidelines to make the Holy Communion part more orderly.

Shown below is a photo of the Christmas tableau behind the altar at the St. Peregrine Laziosi Shrine. This is the church where we hear mass regularly. Notice the presence of usherettes (in blue shirts) manning the communion stations.

How to Get Rid of Tennis Elbow

In a past entry, I mentioned my case of Tennis Elbow or Lateral Epicondylitis. That was in October. I've since used some exercises that have helped alleviate the pain.


Wrist and Forearm Strengthening Exercises

Here are a couple of exercises I found that helped regain the strength in the outside of the forearm. You could use a hammer for both exercises. Or a dumbbell bar with detachable weight plates.

The advantage of using the dumbbell is the ability to increase or decrease the weight by changing plates.

For a dumbbell, empty the dumbbell plates on one end so you can use it as a handle.  Load some plates on the other end.  A starting weight of 1.25 pounds is enough.  You may add more weight as you progress.

For the first exercise, hold the dumbbell so the other end is pointing forward as shown as below:

The Mosquito Net Solution

Ahhh! Hmmm!

For several days now, I've been having more restful sleep thanks to the ever reliable mosquito net. As it has been cold in the past few days (and evenings!), using the electric fan to drive away mosquitoes has been counterproductive.

It hasn't always been this way though. It's been a year already since we've managed without window screens. We decided not to have them since we absolutely enjoyed the breeze coming in the second floor bedrooms.

SM Mall Christmas Fireworks Display

For a few weekends now, we have been treated with a wonderful spectacle from the nearby mall, SM Muntinlupa (sometimes called SM Tunasan).

This Christmas tradition started way back in 2007 when the mall opened in November of that year.

The SM fireworks display starts at 7:00 pm and lasts for 5 minutes. We Pinoys are already so used and tired of the old yearly firecrackers that do nothing but pak! pak! boom! and pollute the streets.

Renz's Birthday 2009

Renz turned 8 last December 6. We originally planned on coming home after the mini-reunion on December 5.

But I was too tired from driving through heavy traffic that we decided to go back on the next day, Sunday.

Tita Divine bought a birthday cake for Renz. And it was no ordinary cake. It's a Belgian Chocolate cake from Ala Creme Bakeshop in Pampanga - which I heard is "one of the best if not "the best" bakeshop in all of Angeles and Pampanga..


What's so special with Belgian Chocolate?

Well, supposedly, Belgian chocolate is considered to be the gourmet standard against which all other chocolate confectionary is measured. Even the Swiss, known for their own high quality chocolate, imported the basic recipe from French and Belgian chocolatiers.

The majority of Belgian chocolate is still made by hand in small shops using traditional equipment. These small chocolate outlets are actually a popular draw for tourists visiting Belgium today.

Similar to wineries, tours of Belgian chocolate shops often involve tastings and exclusive souvenirs. Not the same as the sugary treats offered in American candy shops, these Belgian chocolate pralines could be filled with a variety of different flavored nougats or creams, such as coffee, hazelnut, fruit, or even more chocolate.

Christmas Past and Present

One of the Christmas traditions at our old house apart from the usual like the hanging of Christmas lights and Noche Buena was to take a picture of the kids by the Christmas tree. And every year (I don't remember since when), I emailed "Christmas Greeting Cards" bearing these photos to friends.

Those "cards" have now turned into Christmas slideshows.

In 2007, I texted this tradition of ours as an Top Ten entry to the The Morning Rush radio program.

The radio hosts, Chico and Delamar were selecting the Top Ten "Unique and Strange Christmas Traditions and Christmas Decors". Guess what, my Christmas Tradition entry landed Top One.

30th High School Reunion

"It was like High School all over again."

30 years after graduating from High School, some of our High School classmates met again, this time at the Kayakoto KTV Bar Grill and Restaurant in Pampanga just across the famous (notorious?) Miyabe Court. This was last December 5, 2009.

Traffic on a Saturday was, as usual, bad especially in EDSA near the Balintawak area. I reached the place at almost 5:30pm and Rommer, Bing and Roger were already there having a round of drinks. It was past 7pm though that other classmates started trickling in.

This is the second reunion that I've attended, actually. The first was when we celebrated our 25th (Silver) Year High School Reunion where around 50 classmates attended.

This time, though, it was mostly the Philippine-based classmates who attended. In fact we called it as another "mini-reunion" because there have been a few other such reunions after the the 25th Grand Reunion.

Pamantansan ng Lungsod ng Muntinlupa

This school became the temporary venue for all classes in Karen's school - Muntinlupa Science High School.


Displaced School Classes due to Typhoon Ondoy

After typhoon Ondoy and Pepeng struck, all roads leading to Munsci (Muntinlupa Science High School) were left unpassable. The school itself which was built on high grounds was not damaged.

But many residents nearby had to abandon their homes since floodwaters entered the houses. Initially, only bancas could traverse the roads. Classes at Munsci were suspended for a good 2 weeks during which the Principal and Mayor searched for a viable alternative.

PLMun or Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Muntinlupa became the temporary venue for resuming the Munsci classes. It was very difficult because many of the school equipment were left behind at Munsci.

Also, there were not enough available classrooms at PLMun for the entire displaced high school. Two class sections were assigned to one classroom as in the case of Karen's section.

Since there were other surrounding schools near PLMun, the Munsci students had to compete with other students for public transportation. There were a couple of instances that DH and I had to take Karen to school when she had to bring presentation materials.

Here's the main entrance to the school compound.

When I was small and Christmas trees were tall

"When I was small and Christmas trees were tall..."

That first line of the Bee Gees (and Jose Feliciano) song entitled "First of May" kept playing in my head when we assembled the Christmas tree that mom gave us when we went home to have the parol fixed.

The last time that this tree was set up, believe it or not, was when my sister and I were in our elementary years. Yup, that was DECADES ago - in the 70's!


Rewind to a Christmas Past

My dad brought home this huge and heavy box. We the kids were so awed that we'd finally have our Christmas tree. The box was filled with what I thought were hundreds of small tree plastic branches.

I swear it took us several weeks to assemble the tree. I don't remember my dad helping in setting it up as he's mostly averse to mundane household chores. :) I believe we used stools and chairs to reach the tree just so we could help mom put in place the plastic branches.

Fixing the Christmas Parol

Last Nov.29, Sunday, we motored to Pampanga for our monthly visit to my mom. It was a perfect opportunity to bring our old parol that needed fixing.

A couple of its bulbs were busted; the twinkling (folks call it winker) gadget wasn't working; and the plastic cover needed replacing.


Origins of the Christmas Parol

Did you know that the word "parol" came from the Spanish word "farol" which means "lantern" or ilawan in Tagalog? Yeah, me neither. :)