JANGSTS2: December 2008

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Where I've Been

Thanks to my UP Mobile Theater days, my first job as a Techno-Aide, and of course, as Regional UPCAT examiner for many years, my Lakbayan grade is B-! White spaces, here I come!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

Five years ago, I won first prize for an essay about Christmas family traditions in a contest sponsored by the Phil. Daily Inquirer. Today, amidst all the frenetic pace of activities which characterize the Christmas season for me and my family, I suddenly had the urge to again share the message of what I had written then. Maybe, I needed to be reminded what this season is all about.

“Rudolp the red nose reindeer,
Had a bery shiny nose
Olop, the oder reindeer
Use to lap and call him names…”

The holidays in my childhood used to be signaled by such Christmas carols sung by the neighborhood kids outside our door. Whenever I would hear the first notes, it was as if a light inside me would be switched on. It was a time of anticipation of greater things to come!

But as my world became a little less innocent, I began to hear their off-key strains of song. The musical notes would, in my cynical, imaginative mind, transform into peso signs! Giving spare change to the urchins was becoming a mindless activity. It was something which said “You’re a nuisance and here’s something to get rid of you.” The coins also seemed to say, “Your singing is not worth it!” So kids would just rush through a poorly performed song and after a phrase or two, would break into “Namamasko po!” Night after night you were punished by discordant singing and you got back at them with the measly coins.

Then I became a mother! Suddenly, I wanted to bring back and preserve for my children the traditions I enjoyed as a child. But how could I recover something that seemed to have been lost? How could I bring back the songs sung from the children’s hearts?

Thus began one of our “new” family traditions. The year it was born, instead of spare change, my children and I gave stubs to the neighborhood children who sang at our door. These, they could redeem for gift bags come Christmas Eve. Each caroler could only get one gift bag so any extra stubs they might have earned could be shared with their siblings or friends.

Every year my children, now 20 and 15, help in decorating and packing the bags. When the carolers come, it is their task to give the stubs and explain what they are for. Come Christmas, the gifts are given with reminders about the reasons for celebrating and a request for prayers.

The neighborhood kids seem to like it as they come back year after year. I don’t know, but the singing sounds better too. Could it be the gift bags? Or is it because we go out and listen to their songs when they come by our door? Is Christmas back at our doorsteps?

Saturday, December 20, 2008

What You Missed: The View from AS and PHAn

UP Centennial Lantern Parade
Dec. 17, 2008

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Cultural Night ng Kumperensiya

Monday, December 15, 2008

Competing with the moon & stars

Quezon Hall in UP Diliman all ablaze and Concert by Candlelight in Church of the Risen Lord on Dec. 14, 2008

LCM Commissioning

Dec 14, 2008
Holy Family Parish

Flor and I joined the latest batch of lectors/commentators who were commissioned into the ministry of lectoring as we were both absent when the regular members had their renewal last November. We have 5 new lectors who survived the months-long training program. Yehey!

Mama's 86th birthday in Ling's new space

Thursday, December 11, 2008

What true love looks like

     It was like a scene in movie that is usually shown in slow motion - long lost lovers, separated by distance or circumstance, are reunited after a long period of being apart. Except that this time, the characters in this scene were not lovers (well, not in the sappy sense) but a young nun dressed in a simple habit, her feet shod in slippers and a group of raggedy children.

    From afar, I first espied the nun pulling a trolley heavy with used bottles in crates hastily walking towards where I was. Then my eyes caught the small band of children excitedly running on the street. Nothing new about that until I realized that they were running towards the direction of the sister pulling the heavy load. I was fortunate to catch that very moment they would converge - the smiling children taking hold of the sister's hand and bringing it to their foreheads seeking blessing and the young sister, her face glowing with joy so pure that I swear its positive energy reached me as our car quickly passed them by.

   There, in that brief moment, I knew for certain that it was true love that I saw!

Friday, December 5, 2008

Sand, Sea, and Sky in Bagac

Dec. 3-4, 2008

Birthday girls

November 30, 2008

Bye for now

On the eve of Fr. Raymun Festin's departure for Angola, Angie & I had dessert with him at Cafe Breton. Then we brought him back to the Mission House for the inevitable good-bye.