merry christmas

Merry Christmas!!!

our family had a Christmas party.

the planned: eat Noche buena at our Aunt's coz it was also her son's bday; have an xchange gifts and last enjoy!

ok ok ok ok ok

first was Noche Buena,

i ate the ever tradition sweet and spicy spaghetti and many sticks of bbq.

we had exchange gift worth 50 pesos for fun! but trust me, all the gifts cost double each. it is really the season of giving.

my monita is Tita Neng, she's also my godmother. so for this time, we exchange roles...

i gave her a wallet pouch, which cost a hundred plus but i got it for 27 pesos only... hahah... it was a discounted item on my mom's business... heheh

i got Aira as my "mini" Santa. she gave 5 different designed hankies...

it was really fun.

our grandfather received gifts from all of us with themed something funny.

my cousin sheila gave him "bilog", his favorite alcohol drink

my other cousins, ate nancy and rose anne gave him "pulutan" to complete the fun of bilog...

my sister and i gave him a miniture cat, for he adores cat more than us, his own grandchildren...

my grandad with bonnet and kanye west shades from jordan, kenken paul and bj

well, the party didn't last long. just right after the gifts are given, everyone just rush out leaving the place mess up with tethered gift wrappers. my cousins and i took some pictures of ourselves before we went back to our own places.

Then Tita Neng gave out her gifts to her nephews and nieces. I got two gifts from her, first one was a wallet, the same wallet she gave to others as her niece with coins and 100 bucks; the second one was the piggy bank i requested as her godchild.

When i went home, Brian, my cousin, gave me a a pouch bag as a gift from his mother, Tita Eva, for she is my godmother also.

my mom also gave away gifts. mostly are toys. each children got a set of toys. then, if you are her godchildren, you mostly got two gifts. either both toys or clothes and money or toy again!

then we slept at 2 a.m, wake up about 6:30 trying to get to the first mass of 7. but, we delayed, and delayed then we attend the last mass at 9:45 am!

at church, we were almost at the back but seated. not a good place. people behind us were so noisy! a lot of children were crying. but we still decide to finished it.

then got back home.

our cousin were waiting for us. Ate Aileen with her mom, Tita Vicenta, and her daughter, whom I loved to make it cry out loud, jaja.

My mom fed them, give them gifts and talked and talked and they decide to go home.

Tito Louie came, with his wife and two kids. but they didn't stay for so long, they still have places to go.

Rachel came in, she is my goddaughter. i gave her a pouch bag.

the actual plan of going out with my friend didn't work out. for the sake of having fun with his relatives, he got drunk, like my cousins, who drunk from the stroke of Christmas eve until the morning came.

then i just sleep. period.

end of my Christmas day.

reflections... (cont.)

Ö5th night December 19, 2008Ö

I'm with Geriz. This time, we we're much earlier and seated!!!!!

it was Fr. Odong this time.
the gospel was about Mother Mary receiving and accepting the news brought to her by Angel Gabriel...
the homily, was about saying Yes! Father explained what if Mary didn't say "yes" to Angel Gabriel then there is nothing...
so we have to learn to say "yes" on good things...

Ö6th night December 20, 2008Ö

me alone... Geriz went to Enchanted Kingdom!

It was Father Jason ( Geriz went to e.k because of her classmate's invitation, thus she really wanted Fr. Jason to be the priest, she missed this time)

the gospel was about Mary went to Elizabeth to care and help her in her pregnancy and delivery to her son John...

with this the homily proceed about the good characteristics of Mary that we should learn: being approachable, dependable and the last one i forgot T.T
well, Mary, showed this characteristics when she accepted God's Grace and went to Elizabeth to care for her cousin.

being approachable, i can say I'm approachable 0.o... hehehe... the problem is that every body's impression of me is that I'm Snobbish!!! which is I'm really not, I'm just quiet...

dependable??? yes I am, for sometimes. . . You can depend on me but if I noticed that you can do it alone, I won't help you. when you abused my helping hand, don't worry I'll finish the promised but there will be no next time...

so far for being an example of Mary... T.T

Ö7th night December 21, 2008Ö


i went with my cousin, planned to meet up with Geriz on the Church 'cos she is with her suitor a.k.a ex-boyfriend. but they were late, i chose to be with my cousins 'coz they were seating. but my cousin Rachel insisted that I should go to Geriz, for the main reason, there was no much space for all of us... but i did'nt go, i did not want to stand the whole mass.

It was Fr. Peter, felt sorry for Geriz, she was standing already, yet, it was not her favorite priest.

the Gospel was the same with the Saturday's Gospel, about Mary visiting Elizabeth.

the homily is about sharing. Christmas is the season of sharing. Fr. Peter, again, compared the Christmas between Philippines and Myanmar, and Christians and Buddhists. He told us that while still in Myanmar, they share gifts to their teachers and also to the Buddhist around them.

Ö8th night December 22, 2008Ö

I'm with Geriz, i think she's doing it alternately...

It was Fr. Miguel

the Gospel was about the days of Mary with Elizabeth

the homily was about being thankful. being Filipino, he said that we are thankful to everything. We are trained to be thankful while still young. When we give something to a child, it's parent will teached the child to always say "thank you", until it is a part of the daily conversation. also being thankful has a bad outcome. best example, politicians... When elections are near, they would try to show that they help, and to those they helped, as a gratitude, they are going to vote for them eventhough they are not the suitable winners. Filipinos will always find means of showing their gratitude to those who showed help to them.

Ö9th night December 23, 2008Ö

I completed it! banzai! it was my first time to complete the Simbang Gabi!!! -_-

for the last simbang gabi, it was Fr. Jason

the gospel was about the birthday of St. John the Baptist. it narrates the story of how Elizabeth and Zachariaz waited for a long time fir their child.

the homily was about the lessons Elizabeth and Zachrias gave to us.

the lesson of the value of waiting, not hating God for being downed on whole life, and for still believing in God.

Father Jason just emphasized that the new generation doesnt know how to wait because everything we have is instant. instant noodles, instant coffee and even instant gf/bf...

my patience rating was never stable. i can wait for nowbut tommorrow i won't, even it is faster than before.


i hoped i still learned from the homily and be able to use it for every one's good.
i was so glad to complete the mass!

my reflections...

The reflections I'm talking about is how we view our selves based on new lessons in life.



I remember during my highschool days, we wrote our reflection about the mass' homily of the previous Sunday mass for our Religion subject. (our school is a religious institution, see, they want to maintain the values of their students)



I don't know why? but I feel to write my reflections of my Simbang Gabi. Maybe because this might be my first time completing it (and I really hope so)

and here it is, from the first night until this 8th night! O.o (no absent! and one more ^-^)

Ö1st night December 15, 2008Ö

i'm with my cousins, reluctant to went at first, but convinced ^-^ ... the mass started at exactly 8 pm but we were late, good thing was that we did'nt miss the reading of the Good news... and we were standing!... we stand for almost an hour, we finished the mass...

the homily is about the teachings of the Christ, on how he guides the world and his people (that's how I understand the homily)

I think the Church wants to tell us to be also a guide to others, to be the others light by spreading the Good news (ofcourse what's within the Bible and not good gossip) ... Well, I've been a cathechist when i was 4th yr highschool, but now i hardly have time to attend sessions and to find schedules fitted to those public schools that we may serve. All i can do for now is to support my fellow cathechist who until now love to serve the Church...

Ö2nd night December 16, 2008Ö

I went with my old classmate Geriz whose house is just a 2 minutes away from mine. we walk, then we went early so that we can start from top and so that we have seats... but to our surprise, as early as 7:30 pm the church were already full so we ended standing again!

the homily is about the happiness Jesus is giving for the world and that is for a lifetime... the priest, Father Jason, specified that we should be happy for Jesus sacrifice for us...

Fr. Jason stated three things that we should avoid to attain happiness, and for those poeple who have it, they are not happy in their life...

1st is overspeeding: not the overspeeding on the roads (although it can cause accidents leading to unhappiness) but the overspeeding of ages... example are those kids who wants to grow older as fast as possible, they don't experience the happiness of being a careless kid. thus when they grow older they wish to be younger. i don't really wish to grow old... i'm still child, i love cartoons and still love toys... heheh

2nd is idleness: those poeple who does nothing but to sleep, coz when thet wake-up they feel sleepy again, so they don't do anything just nothing! and I admit that I'm this 2nd type T.T...

3rd is wrong priority in life: good example is that work over family, and you will wonder why your children or partner is not close to you... i don't feel this in my family even though my father work overseas... I understand my father, instead I'm the one who feels guilty that because of us he have to work abroad alone. T.T

Ö3rd night December 17, 2008Ö

on the third night... well, i don't understand the homily that much... you see, the priest that night is Fr. Peter, it's my first mass with him. he's from Myanmar, he doesn't speak well in Tagalog and even his English is slow... the mass proceed in Tagalog, and English on some parts...

the reading of the Gospel was in English, and it's about the bloodline of Jesus from Abraham...

the homily, well, i only understand that Fr. Peter was amazed that we have this tradition 'coz in his country there is no such thing... He just compared the Celebration of Christmas in the Philippines and Myanmar...

my mind was mostly on cloud nine, I don't understand him much...

Ö4th night December 18, 2008Ö

the 4th night. still no absent! happy! hahah

I went with my cousins, Geriz was shopping!

and it's Fr. Miguel, the new director of my highschool. it was also my first mass with him. I heard alot of him, my cousins told me that he was a some sort of notorious priest-director.

the Gospel this tym was about St. Joseph learned that Mary was pregnant....

the main reflection was about being straight. St. Joseph is an example of a man whose character is "straight", I mean, he's not the one who will take a flight on a problem... most of us, if we had a choice to escaped the problem, we escaped. I'm not much of this person, because I can't settle my own conflict with my aunt her children. if i'm straight then i should apologized and also to forgive them, but, instead of it.. i run away from them, I would rather take a longer path just not to face them...

failed again...

I'll continue my reflections on the next blog... ^-^

misa de gallo

Once again, for a long long time, I blog! haha... -_-

Philippines have the longest Christmas in the whole wide web! It actually starts with Misa de Gallo or Simbang Gabi mass at December 15 for night and December 16 for dawn and ends with Epiphany or the Feast of Three Kings at January 11.

Misa de Gallo consist of 9 nights of mass it is for the 9 months that Mother Mary bear Jesus in her womb. Its not actually at night. Because Misa de Gallo literally means roosters mass or mass at dawn. History says that the mass starts when the rooster starts it morning job before town people go to their work. It changed into night during the reign of Pres. Marcos, when he declared Marshall law and set a country wide curfew. At the end of his reign some church held the mass at dawn still having the night.

They said that if one completed the mass then one can wish at the end of the last night.

And I never able to complete it! I hope this time I'm able to complete the mass because when I started college, I seldomly attend the regular mass every Sunday...

Cnsider me as a sinner now T.T

--- hark the herald ---

Hark! The herald angels sing,

“Glory to the newborn King;

Peace on earth, and mercy mild,

God and sinners reconciled!”

Joyful, all ye nations rise,

Join the triumph of the skies;

With th’angelic host proclaim,

“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”

Refrain
Hark! the herald angels sing,

“Glory to the newborn King!”

Christ, by highest Heav’n adored;

Christ the everlasting Lord;

Late in time, behold Him come,

Offspring of a virgin’s womb.

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;

Hail th’incarnate Deity,

Pleased with us in flesh to dwell,

Jesus our Emmanuel.

Refrain

Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace!

Hail the Sun of Righteousness!

Light and life to all He brings,

Ris’n with healing in His wings.

Mild He lays His glory by,

Born that man no more may die.

Born to raise the sons of earth,

Born to give them second birth.

Refrain

Come, Desire of nations, come,

Fix in us Thy humble home;

Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed,

Bruise in us the serpent’s head.

Now display Thy saving power,

Ruined nature now restore;

Now in mystic union join

Thine to ours, and ours to Thine.

Refrain

Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface,

Stamp Thine image in its place:

Second Adam from above,

Reinstate us in Thy love.

Let us Thee, though lost, regain,

Thee, the Life, the inner man:

O, to all Thyself impart,

Formed in each believing heart.

Refrain