A Family Christmas

It's been going on four years now that the family would get together at Tita V's house on Christmas Eve. This time, it was different. Special. It was a first Christmas for...

1. Tita V as a cancer survivor. 
2. Mayet and her family as visiting Californians. 
3. Jamesie Cat as a school boy.

Ain dressed us all up in Traditional Filipino wear, and the food and annual elephant gift exchange went as before.

What a creative and fun opportunity for photos! 'Cept the kids...

Are you kidding [no pun intended], I want to open presents!

Waaaaah! Someone pushed me!

Are we done yet?

I get anything I want if I sit still and smile? Cheeeeeeeeeeese!

This year's elephant theme was Bed Bath & Beyond.

And of course, there's always toys.

What thrilled me the most was to see Jamesie Cat use my present "correctly". Remember when he was just learning to spell his name?

Merry Christmas indeed!

.

A Day With Jaida

Jaida is now walking.

Let me start again.

Jaida is now running, climbing, leaping, and just short of flying (a momentary action when she leaps into your arms off of tall platforms). She's also starting to talk. In fact, compared to her big brother, her vocabulary at a year and a half years old is more advanced than Sheazie Bear's at that age. So a day with her now is a whole world different from a day with her a year ago.

9AM: 

Huskies Football forum with Uncle 5-Star. 

11AM: 

Getting Jaida's left ear re-pierced. She lost an earring. I wonder why? Hah!

She was more afraid of being pinned down than by the prick of the earring.

11:30AM: 

Pay a visit to Tia Alfonsina at her work. If only Alfonsina wasn't on the clock, Jaida would have more time to warm up to her. 

12PM:

Lunch at Sushiland.

1:30PM:

Shopping.

That's a Princess Something-or-other basket. Apparently, Jaida doesn't see it that way. She doesn't play with princess things.

7PM

Come home to overly excited dogs who hadn't had their walks since Jaida came to town.

9:30PM

Stuff ourselves with Christmas cookies, and Skype with Grandma R.

Good night!


.

A Child's Mind

It is a wonder what goes through the mind of a one and a half year old. Because they can't speak yet, I can only guess by her facial expressions what she might be thinking...

She looks serious. She must have found a button that makes something fascinating appear on the phone. It captures her attention. But mind you, the series of photos to follow take place within a span of no more than forty-five seconds.

She found some pictures. It must have been of Preacher and Sonya because she started woofing. Does she wonder why their ears stand up like football goal posts? Does she wonder why their tongues are soft and slimy? Is she afraid when they bark? (Probably not, because she likes to mimic them.) Does she want to ride them?

This one must have been of herself, because she lit up with recognition before bursting out in giggles. When she was littler, before she turned one, she found her reflection in the mirror to be quite interesting. At first she stared at herself. Soon, she kissed her reflection and made coddling sounds at it. So, what does she see in herself? That she has two eyes, a nose, and a mouth? So what? Or, does she think Aw, wittle babee so cute! not knowing she's looking at herself. Does she know who she's looking at?

Suddenly, her smile disappears, and she looks up from the phone.

Uh oh, what happened? Did she see something she didn't like? What picture could she possibly not like?

Oh no! Now she complained outright. Was the phone not doing what she wanted? Did she move away from the pleasant pictures, and didn't know how to get back to them?

Bam! She slaps the phone onto the counter with such finality. Yeah, something definitely offended her.

If she could talk, her exact words at this point would have been I'm outta here!
 

I picked up the phone to see what offended the unspeaking toddler. Hah! It was the Contacts page.

So what makes her enjoy Dawgman when she's looking at it with Uncle 5-Star?

An American Boy

Naturalization Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.

 

The Pledge of Allegiance

 

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." 

The American dream: to be an American!

The fun of being an American:

Fourth of July, Independence Day.

Thanksgiving, turkey and pumpkin pie.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, equality.

Memorial Day, heroes who fought for our freedom.

Labor Day, the force that built this nation. 

Halloween... Just kidding! But by the props we wore to celebrate this day with Undercover Brother (Alfonsina's little brother), you'd think it was.

When Undercover Brother arrived from Argentina, the only English words he knew were "Customer Service", which he actually thought was a name, Castro Mercedes. 

On this day, he became an American Boy, as fluent in English as his own American born son and wife. 

.

Thanksgiving

I give thanks for...

This fall colored do-up that makes me look tall and thin.

The novel idea of having turkey dinner at the Black Angus.

Friends who are willing to get all gussied up with me for a formal sit-down at the Black Angus.

Hot bread with butter, real turkey, and made-from-scratch pumpkin pie.

All for $17.95 a person... Thank you, amen!

.

I Confess: Twelve Pounds

For those of you who didn't grow up in the islands of Micronesia or the Philippines, you might be crinkling your noses and cringing at the sight of this photo.

Manang Nina, Bohol

Because no where in these modern, sophisticated, "cultured" cities will you have your neighbor bring you the choicest catch of the day, and then proceed to butcher it on your lawn.

And I start with this photo to make a point about health and the waistline.

Waistline?! you gawk.

Watch and learn, Grasshopper...

One of the best things about Truk and Bohol/Cebu is the fresh food from the ocean. As I've mentioned before, whenever I go home I eat fish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Except, of course, when we can't help but eat out...

 Sunburst Restaurant, Cebu

Mmmmm, the kare-kare is my bain!

 Max's Restaurant, Manila

The most popular place to be, akin to Costco, they have the same pizza!

S&R Wholesale, Cebu

In which case, Yours Truly doesn't eat the most desired crunchy chicken skin, she sticks to the veggies in the pot of kare-kare, and she eats only a half a slice of pizza and forego the chewy crust.

For the most part, this is breakfast, lunch, and dinner. With water.

Home cooked lunch, Cebu

It's hard at first, what, with everyone else's heaping plates, and the constant meriendas day by day, by day, by day.

Another good thing about being on vacation at home is that you don't have a schedule. No deadlines (except the airline check-in when you finally leave for reality). So you have all day to exercise, whenever you want. Yours Truly chose dawn, the coolest, quietest time of the day when the aroma of dinner on the stove is not distracting. Then again, the stench of frying buwad is like crack to an addict.

Truk

And when you gather up a posse to run a road race with you, you can't help but set the example by preparing for the event.

2012 Alphonsian Run, 15km later.

15km = 9.3miles

But it doesn't end when you leave the islands. The McDonald's in the Narita airport in Japan serves a burger that is unlike any Big Mac you'll ever have in the USA. I'd like to think that it's because their cows are raised with strict standards (Kobe? I don't know...) But instead of diving into a fat juicy burger the minute she steps into a foreign country, she opts for the local fare.

Narita International Airport, Japan

So what that the formerly snug fitting pants now hang off her tush like a sack of potatoes.

Guam

The point I was trying to make, Grasshopper, is that this is what it would look like under all that cloth. I'm not saying that that is Yours Truly, but that THAT is what could be under the potato sack excuse of a pair of pants, twelve pounds lighter.

This, on the other hand, is definitely Yours Truly, back to the ways of the good ol' US of A!

Plus 12...

.