Happy New Year!

It's been a week since the new year started and I forgot to blog. It was a perfect opportunity to thank 2011 and welcome 2012. Well, I can still do that so I want to thank God for the many wonderful blessings last 2011. Most significant events in 2011 are acquiring our new home, my parent's visit here in Canada and my encounter retreat. Thank God for all these and other blessings. He gave us not only tangible things that we need but also the intangibles like good health, jobs and relationships.

Welcome 2012 - We went to Neil and Keli's place near Square One for the countdown. We had dinner prepared by Kelly, some Brazilian dishes, the Salmon dish she copied from me and we had fun with the Brazilian traditions that Kelly taught us while eating the lentil dish. We witnessed the very short fireworks display at the Mississauga City Hall in front of their condo. The kids played video games with Neil and stayed very late. I think we left their place after 2:00 am. It was a blast!

Our "Firsts in Canada" Photobook

I have been waiting for this moment to arrive. The long hours spent on the computer on my vacation this Christmas week and dried, tired eyes are worth it. Here's the finished product of my labor of love (only selected 30 pages are shown, the book's total pages = 200) - Our firsts in Canada Blurb photobook:

A first time for everything | Make Your Own Book

Alvin and "my" Chipmunks

Today is movie day. We spent the day after Christmas watching Alvin and the Chipmunks - Chipwrecked at Cineplex Odeon. It was a movie for kids it but I found Lex and myself sleeping in some parts of it hahaha. It was fun. The Chipmunks are so cute especially Theodore. Here are my Chipmunks:

Boxing Day

The day after Christmas, December 26th, is statutory holiday called Boxing Day across Canada. Boxing Day like the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, in the U.S. is THE big shopping day in Canada. Stores, malls and most retailers are open and generally continue till New Year's. it's the day that shopaholics like me look forward to grab great deals.

When I first came to Canada, I thought that boxing day meant boxing your way to the shops in lining up to the door before it opens, or when getting the items and lining up for the cashiers. The crowded shops meant rubbing elbows with other shoppers, and literally boxing them to be the first to grab the deals. LOL! Advantage sa mga Pinoys yun because of Pacquiao'sFame, right? But I found out it has a different meaning. Several theories exist on how Boxing Day got its name. It may come from a tradition in the U.K. in which household employers boxed gifts for their servants. One thing is for certain, the name comes from storage boxes, not the sport.

So what did I get from Boxing Day? Ikea Frames for my 3D artwork and crosstitch which we got for 50% off..I didn't brave the crowds at the shops but wanted to try shopping online. I later decided not to because when I shopped online at http://www.bootlegger.com last week, the deals I got were already good only to find out that the prices went down on the boxing day/week. I got disappointed hahaha. Anyway, some deals are valid for a week, I might head to the shops later on, who knows?

On boxing day, after IKEA, the whole family headed to CINEPLEX ODEON to watch Alvin and the chipmunks - chip wrecked.

Merry Christmas! Happy Birthday Jesus!

I got this from Nhel Miranda's Facebook Wall and I agree with her and I felt that it deserves a space in my blog so here it is:

“X” means wrong…in expressing our greetings by writing an “X” in place of the name of CHRIST in the word CHRISTMAS is totally wrong; JESUS CHRIST is the righteous (1 John 2:1); and it is HIS birth that we are celebrating this time of the year…so please do not replace CHRIST with an “X”…let us give HIM the honor HE truly deserves.

It was a busy week prior to today. I enjoyed the parties, food and being with friends and family. There were a few gatherings in the Philippines that I was able to join virtually thru webcam and skype; Boy,I am so glad to see my family back home. I miss them actually.

Today, I prepared Christmas dinner as early as 6 am to brine the turkey. I think I was standing the whole day and busied myself in the kitchen. The Mabini kids arrived before dinner and we had a Bible Study to honor the celebrant - Jesus Christ. Anyway, it's been a while since we had a bible study with these kids; it was at their place in Rochefort where we all started with their mom - Regina facilitating and guiding us with God's words.

We had fun starting because we can't decide on the Praise and Worship song, whether it's with Christmas theme or just plain worship songs, we had a couple then we started reading in 2 Kings 4:8-37. I was so happy that after reading my son Aloysius asked questions. That means he listened intently and I hope he was blessed. The story of the Shunemite Woman and God's faithfulness will forever be etched in our hearts. We were blessed on Christmas Eve.

Of course, the celebration is not complete without food. So after feeding our minds with God's words, we feast on the Turkey, Sotanghon, Potatoes, Pasta and Salad plus sweets. They all loved the turkey..the recipe is in here if you want to try it. This time, I used cooked rice stuffing with chopped pimiento, carrots, bacon bits sprinkled with salt and pepper and butter. They said, my version is delicious, not bland or malansa.

My first born is now 10 years old

10yrs ago on my way to buy food for noche buena, my water broke and then after 6 hours, my first child was born and celebrated my first Christmas as a mom in the hospital..Happy Birthday to my son Aloysius Miguel. Thank you Lord for his first 10 years full of blessings.

Our New Toy – iPad 2

We wanted to buy the Blackberry Playbook when it was on sale but since the demand is high and the supply is low, we were not able to grab that chance. We even tried asking for Irvin and Faye to buy for us in the US but to no avail. They got the Apple iPad 2 and we were green eyes when they were showing it on chat. On Lito’s birthday, we went to Best Buy just to look around and the kids were glued to the Apple iPad station trying on the games – Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja. Kyle and Aloysius were even fighting and want to be first. While there were no available demo iPads to use, (there were lots of people trying it too) we went to the Samsung Galaxy Tab demo unit and let Aloysius play there. The 2 tablets were almost the same and the gap on the price tag is not that substantial. Samsung Galaxy is priced at $ 449 while the 16GB Apple iPad 2 costs $519.

Lito left us to check out other sections and when he came back, the four of us are already occupying the whole Apple station, using all the demo units including Lex who sat on the table and were busy with his artwork using the Drawing Pad. He asked all of us to stop what we’re doing and leave the place but the kids are not moving. I heard Lex said “I want the big iPod” (he is using an old iPod Touch for his games at home) and the 2 older boys agreed so it was not a long time for us to decide and consent to the idea. We came home with our new toy as our All-in-one Gift this year (Birthday, Christmas and Anniversary) and everyone is happy. Lex turned out to be the most addicted because he slept while holding the iPad and while I was trying the apps when they were all sleeping, he suddenly woke up in the middle of the night and asked me “Mom, where is the big iPod?” then went back to sleep. Imagine, my 3-yr-old talking in his sleep about the iPad, he probably dreams about it too LOL!