Hubby and I were listening, enjoying the fire, the smells of orange tree leaves and ripening fruits.
It was a beautiful, sunny, joyful, bright Christmas morning. Maligayang Pasko sa inyong lahat. My heart is so full. We did not allow the Coronavirus to steal our joys, and we wore masks indoors and sat at two tables six feet apart for a family of 7.
#princess2015la‘s mom @coriput and dad @sergnflo especially liked her gifts of #shepersisted book by @chelseacliton1980 and a portable #artstudio from @mondavid5 and @anndavid8.
My granddaughter liked all her gifts and gave me a very nice warm hug and thank you.
I was just happy to see all my adult children talk stories about 2020 and plans for 2021 and beyond.
Chef @kuyalord_la graced our table and the roast chicken, lechon, and pancit bihon got a thumbs up. An added approval from my children when they asked to take food home – an indicator that they loved it.
Pastry Chef @coriput is a self-taught gourmet pastry maker, and my favorite beautiful daughter. She makes delicious pastries and hubby and I both had double servings of her french gourmand apple brown butter tart.
Simply delicious meals by these two chefs and yours truly made grilled eggplant salad with no added dressing, which they also loved.
Thank you God for my beautiful, handsome, warm hearted family who cares about others. I see you Lord in the beauty of their hearts, in how they care for others, and their love for nature!
I am so grateful to these pastors, Fr. Joachim Ablanida and the head pastor Fr. John Cordero with the occasional presence of Bishop Marc Trudeau in officiating meaningful masses with #mindexpanding#soulenriching and #heartdeepening homilies; beautiful on pitch singing by cantors, and well enunciated slow readings for maximum uptakes in digital masses.
I have attended my 276th day, at times thrice in one day, and even with the third wave of #CoronaVirus – I feel God is holding my hands in this #humanitychallengingpandemic.
I believe that the #CoronaVirus is meant to surface our warm hearts in all that we do. When we sow justice, we reap peace; when we sow injustice, we reap wickedness; when we sow generosity of Spirit, we reap overwhelming joy and abundance; when we sow kindness, we reap gentleness, as we sleep longer in the arms of God.
I thank heartily my adult children for taking good care of hubby and myself. They prioritized us this 2020.
I thank my dear friend Hydee Pichai who kept my inspiration stoked by creating a website.
I thank spiritual friends Fr. Aris Martin, Fr. Joel Bugas, Fr. Rodel Balagtas who texted and called to outreach.
Thank you Asian Journal for journeying with us with truthful, credible stories and showcasing what’s good in our hearts, all these generations.
Thank you to my neighbor Larry and Bonnie, @titasofmanilaus, @max.and.lucys @ana_burog @nikkidoodledo Joyce Monserrat @mondavid5 @christinaoriel @carinaoriel @coraoriel @jamieborromeo @neng213, nonoyalsaybar for showing me by your loving actions that there is hope in this pandemic, as @kuyalord_la and @tatang_noho who graced our holiday tables with their best cooked dishes.
Thank you Alvin Cailan for the superior quality of meats, pork belly and the wonderful cookbook you launched this pandemic. Thank you Mon David for DNA cd you launched in May 2020 – our gifts to friends this 2020.
A special thank you to my dear friend/caretaker of my home, my heart and spiritual colleague, Maura Brito – she is truly a giver, with or without pandemic.
My heart is so full and at times, my tears simply flow, remembering how good my FilAm community has been – stepping up for the small businesses, helping to feed the foodfrontliners, the selfless nurses who care lovingly for their patients. I am so happy that these warriors of selfless health care services are being vaccinated first so in turn they can care for more people.
You are reaping the fruits of your ways. You are sowing generosity of Spirit, that is who you are, reaping this in return during this pandemic. Coronavirus has revealed the folks who crown others with their goodness or reveal their spiky thorns planting wickedness and injustices.
Lord, thank you for animating our lives with Your Holy Spirit, for our family’s safe behaviors of gathering outdoors and even the opportunity to see Christmas lights with our friends @neng213 and her caring husband, and our warm hearted #princess2015la who shared her views of life.
“Grandma, you don’t have to believe everything people say.”
“Oh and why is that? My —- lied to me twice. Now, I don’t trust this person, x.”
“But you know what, #princess2015la, I trust people. Then, if they hurt me, I tell them what’s in my heart. I also forgive them so I can love them again, especially if they are family.
“I learn so much from my dialogues with my 5yo. Yesterday, she talked about E1 bullying her friend, E2. I told her to understand E1 and consider giving him love that he needs. If he hurts verbally and physically to tell him stop, and let him know that his actions hurt you and your friends.
Later, she corrects me and says, “Grandma, if you don’t like something, just use your words.”
Oh my, the sage teacher spoke again. Could she embody perhaps my teacher/ Mom who wisely shared her wisdom?
Lord, please bless all our family/ friends, I am filled with their overflowing love!
Context: Of 79,194,606 cases worldwide, 1,738,736 deaths in 191 countries, US has the highest number of deaths, 328,095 and 18,586,874 confirmed cases.
45th US President seized this time to go to Mar-A-Lago, without signing the bipartisan #CoronaVirus pandemic relief bill to give relief stimulus dollars to millions of unemployed, struggling small businesses and funds for military personnel. Lord, please animate his heart to work beyond himself. He can be more than a zero in positive contributions Presidency!
I am still rooting for him to end it with graciousness and respect for America’s peaceful election results and smooth hand-off of transition and power to our new 46th US President Joe Biden whose cabinet appointments are making me sleep better! Please guide us, 46th US President, to care more beyond ourselves, to train the unemployed to help them transition to green energy jobs and jobs that deliver quality housing, quality services to Americans and abroad.
Last Christmas, we raved about Loison panettone. Usually, panettone is ignored in our house. But, when Loison was given to us by Lucita Luciani, we loved it. We devoured it should be the descriptor as we would eat it for breakfast and snacks.
This year, 2020, the Oriel sisters came, @christinaoriel and @carinaoriel with gifts of sunflowers, @republiquela’s panettone and other munchies. The panettone was so good, it disappeared in a couple of days, inspiring my hubby to make a panettone loaf in the bread machine.
We were disappointed as it did not rise as much and we kept up our dialogue on what to tweak, to discover what needs to be changed: flour, yeast, time?
He baked another and it rose a bit more, but not quite the desired texture so, it is taking almost a week to finish this ‘not quite there loaf’. We could have thrown it, but, the frugal us decided not to.
So, our desire for the best panettone is still unrealized.Guess what? At 915am, our doorbell rang – it is our favorite octogenarian neighbor, Larry who gets more charming as he ages and my 5yo granddaughter’s best friend, according to #princess2015la (Larry always stops gardening to ask about her day).
Larry was carrying a gift towards the opposite way and when I opened the door, he hands me the panettone from Republique, a gift for hubby, my granddaughter and myself. He relates the story too that Marge is the finest pastry chef married to Walter, from Switzerland. Then, I finish it by saying and she comes from the Philippines. That reminds me to buy her cookbook.
Would you not be smiling after all these loving encounters over panettone, a week apart?
Lord, thank you for giving me these loving neighbor and friends who are family to us and openly give their hearts to love us.
Thank you @joelstylst.men for these yummy munchies.
Lord, please keep blessing this friend of mine. Whenever I need him and styling services, he comes and with gusto, brings out my inner self to show up on the outside.
Salamat for our decade-long friendship full of laughter, talk stories, makeovers, ube halaya, kkbq, and now these yummiest cookies. Maraming Salamat sa kagandahang mong loob. We love you!
