Christmas, what’s in an idea?

Christmas as described in children’s storybooks is my ideal christmas atmosphere…definitely cold, lots of flickerring lights making the street such a lovely sight at night, people walking with their winter jackets on, scarfs on their necks, mittens keeping their hands warm and colorful bonnets on their head. A light snowfall makes the scene a lot more Christmassy.

Remember the movie “The Grinch” with Jim Carrey? To those book lovers, by Dr. Seuss – “How the Grinch Stole Christmas?” In the beginning of the story, the Who’s of Whoville where preparing for the Christmas season: buying gifts, putting up decorations…its such a delightful sight to me. It’s indeed a very joyful season when everyone remembers everyone.

Inside homes families come together and eat a lovely dinner feast…with all the christmas blooper stories coming back up from when you were a toddler running around with your cute little outfit. They still laugh at the time when you were two and drank a shot of advocaat hidding yourself behind the kitchen door drunk and dizzy…a little bit embarrassing moment but certainly a big hit story for the night.

Dinner tables are topped with the best silvers, shiniest crystal wine glasses and most expensive chinas. And in one special corner of every house lights a Christmas tree. Without a tree dressed up with balls of different diameters, bells, stars and angels, ribbons and candy canes, it does not feel Christmas at all. For children, an additional eye catcher for the night are the gifts underneath.

When I was a child in the warm Philippine atmosphere, we also had christmas trees, a plastic tree with a real spirit. My sister and I dressed it up with the usual christmas stuff. My father fixes the Nativity set outside with those cute Mary, Joseph, Three-Kings, sheep, cow, shepherd-boy, and baby Jesus figurines for everyone to see. My mother prepares a delicious traditional filipino menu. The children – me, my brother and my sister – have to sleep early and be waken up at midnight to have the Noche Buena. Out of bed, we were enchanted with the smell of warm sotanghon soup. On the table we see a juicy portion of lechong kawali, grilled giant prawns, and sweet sweet leche flan for dessert. We do not drink alcohol for Christmas but gulaman, it’s a sweet banana & vanilla flavored drink with jelly or tapioca.

Actually Philippine Christmas season starts from September and ends up in January after the Three Kings celebration. Lights are amazing in the Philippine streets. Christmas songs, english or native is heard everywhere…in buildings, shopping malls, busses. Every housefront has this big star lamp called Parol hanging and inviting carol singers to come and look upon it. Talking about carols, groups of children go around the streets singing carols. They stop at every single house, singing the same song everytime and asking for a gift…well, actually coins.

So when September comes in, christmas decorations come out of the closets. Every year it’s the same thing, but it keeps to be my favorite season of the year. It’s definitely not cold but the spirit of Christmas is there.

When I got to Belgium, the idea of christmas changed. It got closer to the children’s-storybook-Christmas-scene. Cold, people walking with their winter jackets on, scarfs on their necks, mittens keeping their hands warm and colorful bonnets on their head, etc…although snow is not a given.

Christmas market is a national happening. Every town has their own christmas market, selling christmas decorations, warm waffles, gluh wine, bonfire, donkeys, life size Nativity sets, everything. Its fun even to just stroll around the market at night.

Food is excellent during Christmas, the best of the best recipes are cooked at home. When you enter the kitchen, the smell is already mouth-watering! And for dessert…oh the dessert…delicious pies with chocolates and coffee…its heaven on earth!

I want to stop here describing to you how I think about Christmas. Now that Im here in Belgium with my husband and his family while my parents, brother and sister are in the Philippines, my idea of Christmas totally changed.

For me, it does not really matter if there are decorations or not, if there will be delicious food cooked, or if there would be a Christmas tree. As long as I celebrate Christmas with the people I love around me or hear their voices on Christmas eve…it will be the best Christmas I will ever have.

May you have a Merry Christmas filled with love and warmth in your heart.

Waiting for Someone

Waiting is such a simple verb. But in reality, this verb is a complicated one.

It's strings are attached to different reasons, triggerring different emotions, showing out different results. Some feel that waiting takes forever, some get the excitement out of it. Others just ignore it, but for most people, waiting is more important than the person they are waiting for. They say, WAITING for someone says more about the person than when this person talks about him or herself

But what if this someone you are waiting for does not talk...what if this someone is very unexperienced and just stares back at you...this is when the heart dictates the eyes what to say. When the eyes meet, communication starts. The purest sense of communication, when the true emotions speak...no words no sounds, only pure thoughts.

Nico and I have been waiting for 7 months now, for who, we don’t know his name yet…but we are definitely sure that this someone will smile back at us as soon the light shines on his face. We are not afraid that he would not like us, we know and we feel already that emotions will flow like a river of different feelings from one heart to the other: gladness, excitement, joy, victory - name it all!

Okay, lets start from the beginning before I totally shake you out of the track here.

Last December 2006, Nico and I decided we are ready for it…for what? For IT! We are ready to extend our small just-the-two-of-us world into a family. After checking up with the authorities (the doctors of course) it looks like everything is normal and possible.

After a month or three, we have nailed it! We discovered I was expecting in the morning of one sunny May day in 2007. I can’t believe it! I can’t wait to get home to tell Nico about the news. And surprisingly, Nico said he felt that too, that I was pregnant and my news confirms it. To be more sure, we went to the doctor and had a blood test. Yes, its positive, I was then 3 weeks pregnant.

Early? Yeah, I felt immediately that there is something different happening to me…in me. And it felt so right, so wonderful, unbelieavably beautiful. To think about it, a human in me...undescribable.

So, as far as WAITING is concern, yes we are waiting and EAGERLY! We are about to become parents..of a small being still in me...taking the time to get strong and..be complete.

For Nico and I, waiting for this someone is with mixed emotions. Part of it excited and part unsure. Excitement just imagining how the baby will look like, how it will move, how it will eat or drink or smile. And unsure if we will be good parents, if we will be able to understand why a baby cries, if its hurt, or sick. But I guess all parents have undergone this stage of uncertainty and I hope this will pass...that as soon as we see the baby only feelings of happiness and joy will arise.

I think so. I hope so. I wait so...

3 days Cocobeach - Puerto Galera

With an image of a paradise island in our heads, we sailed towards Puerto Galera. Welcoming our arrival are the big letters of COCOBEACH! Wooohooo!

Finally! After a 4 hr drive, missing the harbor entrance, and that hot boat ride we arrived!

Coconut juice in its original pack (coconut of course!) and the shell necklace enlighted the heavy-sweaty-humid atmosphere. Everybody took their keys, finished the coconut juice and headed up to the hill..yes...to our cottages up the hill!

The cottages were cute and nicely decorated. Very FILIPINO! With gumamela on our pillows, we took a very short rest, unpacked and went back down to the see the beach.

Aaaah! The ever famous HAPPY HOUR! Buy 1 get a double of your drink for free between 2 to 4pm only...and of course where else can you fully enjoy such a delicious cocktail - get drunk - and share jokes??? Only up at the SILENT POOL! Those 3 days were probably the noisiest days up the silent pool.

Dinner time, at the restaurant by the pool. With a local group serenading us while eating, it helped us digest the delicious steak.

Frog Race...have you heard of it before? Well, everything is possible in this island. They organized a frog race and bet on the frog which will get out of the labyrinth of empty bottles the quickest.

For our wedding celebration party, we treated everyone for a dinner at the beach. And with the gift from Danny and Veerle, everybody tried to be a circus acrobat! Juggling the ball or playing with the magic stick!

On the second day, we did a hike up the mountain at the mainland. And once up there, we met up with the locals (original tribe). We visited their school and talked to the school principal. We had a buy on the souvenirs and gave the kids some candies.

The third day, I went dolphin-seeing at 6 in the morning...and it was successfull. Later on we went to another island to go snorkling...since our planned jet skiing didnt get any luck...we just enjoyed ourselves looking at the fishes and corals.

Time to go home...but the fun is not over yet! When had to get off the big boat, we have to transfer into this smaller slimmer boat that is on once side wood balance and on the other human! Hilarious!

We got safely home with smiles in our faces :-)

Tagaytay, the real high!

We will never leave tagaytay without climbing Taal Volcano of course! Everybody set themselves to a 40 min walk up the hot dusty volcano..but once up there, its worth it!

The Residence Inn zoo was part of the trip as well. And lucky enough, that during that day they have the baby tigers ready for a photo shoot and a drink of milk...for only 100 pesos! Unlimited picture!

Everybody tried to give the cub a drink and he just kept on drinking! Evenn with his big paws he was a darling!

Hacienda Villa Escudero...feel rich!

A tour in the museum of the Escuderos...and then our couch brought us to the pool for lunch! Our feet were in the water while we were eating. Although wet, it was very refreshing.

Swam afterwards to keep being refreshed :-)

Boat race and who won??? Of course us! Neri and Nico hahaha. It was also Geli's birthday!