Thursday, November 3, 2011

It's November... therefore...

It's November, and in our household, that means it's officially Christmas!!!.

We had a 4-day weekend last week. November 1 is All Saint's Day and it's Filipino tradition to go home to their provinces to visit their dearly departed in the cemetery. Since November 1 was a Tuesday, October 31 (Monday) was also declared as a special holiday to give people more time to travel to their provinces.

Though we didn't go to the cemetery to visit my grandfather (cemeteries get so crowded around November 1 so we visit my grandfather's grave on other days), our weekend was busy too. I finally got around to visiting my dad in the province. My long overdue trip was supposed to happen last June for his birthday. But we were besieged by typhoon after typhoon since then and the area we will be passing to get there was flooded most of the time so we had to postpone our trip several times.

My daughter and my niece enjoyed seeing the "Bahay Kubo" (nipa hut) which they often sing about, in the yard at my dad's house.  And they got to play with cousin Mikki too, who they seldom see. By the way, Mikki is 4 months younger than Andrea but she's almost the same height and built. Should I be worried about Andrea?


We just stayed for a few hours. We arrived around noon time and travelled back to Manila in the evening. 

I also managed to put up our Christmas tree too!
It looks kind of like it did last year. I didn't want to spend money on new decor this year so I used the ones I had last year. The only difference this year is, I used some of Andrea's teddy bears to decorate the tree. One of my aunts gave her a set of Christmas teddy bears from Costco last year. There were 8 bears in the set and they were small enough. They're the perfect touch to give our tree something new. 

I haven't gotten around to the other decor yet. I have a few craft projects planned and hopefully... I can get them done BEFORE Christmas :) 

Hope you guys had a great weekend too!

7 comments:

Diane Writes said...

I smell Christmas!!!! Though it's still too early for me to celebrate. Still have a lot of tasks to accomplish. Hopefully by the first week of December, I could say mission accomplished.

My childhood fantasy was to actually build a Christmas tree that is full of teddy bears. You see I'm a grown up who is still so obssessed with teddies ;-)

Mrs. Kelley Dibble said...

Love the Philippines because SeptemBER is when I can start listening to Christmas music, and I do: EVERY DAY!

Pretty tree!

And don't worry about Andrea. Andrea is Andrea. She is who God made her to be. If someone verbally or audibly makes a comparison, let it go out the other ear. If YOU are doingit, Mommy, well, you know what I would write if I chose to finish this sentence differently than I have. *wink*

xo

Btw: I met with Dra. Simbul yesterday at NCHospital: I'M IN, and welcomed with open arms!

Marilyn said...

So inspiring and awesome.. :)) I can't wait till tree time..:)) I am officially following ya with smiles and would LOVE for you to share this awesome post via my Pin'Inspirational Thurs pls.. - via http://theartsygirlconnection.blogspot.com/2011/11/pininspirational-thursdays-linky-party.html today.. TY

PC said...

Lovely Christmas tree...teddy bears are always perfect for decor! But Mei Mei hardly allow me to use her bears...they are too busy attending tea party! Love you! PC

An Oasis in the Desert said...

Really cute idea to use your daughter's Teddy Bears to decorate the tree. The tree looks super!
:) CAS

Dr Sonia S V said...

YOu are lucky Andrea allowed you to hang her teddys-- My 5 year old daughter would have started world war 3 had I even suggested something like that!!
Cheers from India
Sonia
cardsandschoolprojects.blogspot.com

Diane Writes said...

Hey Janelle! You haven't been updating. I hope things are fine with you. :)