Ang init mula sa sigang ito ay naging kaaya-aya noong isang malamig na gabi ng Disyembre.  Kahit malamig ang panahon, hindi kami natitigil sa aming tahanan!  Namasyal kami sa Trail of Lights, na taunang dinaraos sa Zilker Park dito sa Austin..  Malapit sa paradahan ng mga sasakyan ay isang sigang nababakuran.  Ang mga tao’y lumalapit dito upang magpainit bago at matapos sumabak sa pamamasyal at pagtingin sa mga naggagandahang mga display sa Trail of Lights.

Ang isa ko pang lahok para sa LP: Mga Pula sa Workshop ni Santa

(The warmth from this fire was very welcoming that one cold December night when we visited the Trail of Lights.  The Trail of Lights is a yearly attraction at Zilker Park here in Austin.  Near the parking lot and what I’d like to call the main gathering space before one enters the trail is a fenced bonfire.  People gather around the fire to keep warm before and after viewing the beautiful light display at the trail.)

It was a chilly night when we went to Schlitterbahn’s Hill Country Christmas with some of our friends on December 27th.  Come to think of it, it wasn’t just chilly.  It was in fact freezing! We would have welcomed heated blanket!

One of the attractions at this famous summer-destination-turned-winter-wonderland was the ice skating rink.  Almost all the kids in our group went to ice skate with their dads, while we moms stood on the sidelines to take photos.  Hee hee.

Ito ang aking kauna-unahang paglalathala para sa blog na ito sa taong 2009.  Sa ngalan ng aking pamilya, binabati ko kayo ng isang Maligaya at Manigong Bagong Taon!  Hangad namin para sa inyo ang pagpapala ng May Kapal para sa lahat ng araw ng 2009!  Mamalagi sana sa inyong pamilya ang init ng pagmamahalan.  Mabuhay!

kuha ilang minuto pagkalipas ng Bagong Taon - 01Jan09

This is my first post for this blog for 2009.  On behalf of my family, I wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year!  We wish you an overflowing of God’s blessings all the days of 2009.  May the warmth of love be with your family always.

Do you make New Year’s Resolutions? If yes, how good are you at keeping them?  I don’t really make New Year’s Resolutions.  But I’m thinking maybe I should have a few for 2009.  I only have a mental list for now and they’re all not too hard to keep.  One of them is to be continue to be nice…even to telemarketers who keep calling to ask  if there’s anybody here  who needs life insurance quotes.

…is a song that Hubby probably won’t be singing to me if his car were a Ferrari. Hubby is a fan of fast cars, which is why he loves watching F1 races.  Well, at least he used to be able to watch the races.  But we’re in Nascar country now and F1 isn’t so big here.

A Ferrari is definitely on my list of “thing to buy for hubby” if and when I win the lotto, hopefully, tomorrow.  Hee hee. Never mind if  Ferrari parts cost a lot. ;)  Thank God it’s free to dream. *sigh*

That’s the title of the Hannah Montana theme song.  Whoever doesn’t know who Hannah Montana is must either be: (1) living under a rock or (2) doesn’t have or know anybody with daughters or nieces between the ages of 3 and 15.

Anything Hannah Montana is bound to bring a smile on a little girl’s face, my daughter included…

She loved this shirt, which she got as a present from one of our friends.

There’s a plethora of Hannah Montana thingamajigs everywhere you look.  Disney is really milking the Hannah Montana franchise for all it’s got: pencils, notebooks, bags, shirts, jackets, everything!  Will they do a Hello Kitty and have Hannah Montana toasters, clocks and personal dispensers as well?  Your guess is as good as mine.

I was under a lazy spell since before Thanksgiving.  Last year, our tree was up  the day before Thanksgiving, Wednesday, Novebember 21st.  This year, I wasn’t able to put it up until the Monday after Thanksgiving, which was already December 1st.

My “delinquency” didn’t stop there, it extended to Christmas shopping as well.  I love shopping for presents.  But this year, every time I attempted to go out and shop, I ended up buying stuff for myself and for Abby.  Don’t get me wrong, I very seldom shop for myself.  Shopping for Abby though, is a different story.  I always end up getting her something whenever I step inside a store.

On Christmas Day, Abby had all these presents from hubby and me…

They’re nine packages in all but mind you, they’re not all expensive.

I did manage to finish shopping for presents, at least for our extended family here in the US, two days before Christmas. :D  I was wrapping presents until 5am on Christmas Day!  And since we already received presents from our friends, our tree looked like this on Christmas morning…

It was brimming with presents!

We handed out presents on Christmas Day itself.  It’s a good thing that our friends live very near our home. Hee hee.

I don’t want this kind of stress again next year.  I promised myself I’ll be more diligent.  At any rate,  I’m sure credit card companies are very pleased with me.

In spite of all the times that my daughter didn’t watch out plus all the other times she cried and pouted a lot, Santa still stopped by our house and left this huge package in front of our tree.  Abby asked Santa for a “big bike” and a matching safety gear, a Disney princess helmet and elbow/knee pads.

Abby was thrilled, of course!  I guess Santa just loves making kids happy…even if they’re on the naughty list for the greater part of the year.

I don’t know how Santa managed to fit this package in our chimney, but if he can do it with bikes, he probably can do it with home theater furniture, too. Hee hee. So, did Santa bring you that something special you were wishing for?