It’s tradition to get together with my family on Christmas Eve. Well, that’s if we’re in town. We alternate Christmases between my family in California and Ben’s in Texas, but there are a few personal things Ben and I were needing to taking care of that prevented us from going to Texas this year. Thus, home it was and Christmas Eve is at our house. This year though, plans had to be altered a bit because when Christmas Eve came around, my dad was in the hospital fighting an infection and undergoing another surgery (he just had one the Thursday prior to Christmas). Our Christmas Eve ended up coming late this year, but it was almost better this way because we were all together (and my dad was much better). My brother worked Christmas Eve, so he wouldn’t have been here until late.

We’ve been wanting to start some of our own Christmas traditions and last year was the first year we started with some. Ben wanted to tap into his Mexican heritage (he’s half Mexican and half Caucasian, and I’m Filipino in case you’re wondering) and have tamales for Christmas Eve. He made everything and then when my sisters came over, we all got busy wrapping them up. I was thankful to have Ben to take charge of the kitchen and I was just in charge of dessert.

Well, my family came over, we ate and ate, read Luke 2 and talked about what God has been teaching us, then ate and ate some more. We made fresh churros for the first time and had yummy Mexican hot cocoa along with all the other baked goods on the dinner table. After which, we all had Glow open her one present (she’s a baby and doesn’t need much because she has 3 older sisters!), we put her to bed (it was way past her bedtime) and then it was the 3 big girls turn to open presents. You can imagine with 3 sets of aunts and uncles (actually, only two full sets because my brother is still available) and grandparents, they made out pretty good. After they got all their goodies, we put them to bed (it was way past their bedtime too!) and then it was the adults turn to open presents. And yup, we all pretty much made out pretty good too.

Ben and I had one last thing on our agenda for the evening and it was this little game, which we altered a bit to have 5 dice in at a time. We told everyone to bring $5 in $1 bills, little did they know there might be a chance they wouldn’t get it back. After that little disclosure, we gave everyone time to back out if they didn’t want to lose 5 bucks, but there might be a chance they would go home with $45, so it wasn’t that bad of a deal and everyone was in. It doesn’t involve brains, but just a whole lot of chance, with a whole lot of yelling. Everyone was so excited and nervous to see who would win the pot. It was so much fun! The lucky winner was my brother and he was so generous that he wanted to give everyone back their money, but we all said no. Then, he wanted to do just one more round, so he gave everyone $1 to do one more round with just a buck. Baby sister’s boyfriend won this round came out with $9. Middle sister and Christian ended up with nothing, but maybe they’ll win next year. It was a game we all had fun with agreed to do again next year and possibly up the stakes a little bit more. It’s just like giving someone an extra Christmas present, except you don’t know who that someone will be.

It’s always such a good time being with family and we all ended up going to bed so late. As much as we love food, presents, and games, I think the treasure of that evening were our conversations about how we still need to be in awe of Christmas. I think that the reason we celebrate Christmas can really get lost in the hustle and bustle of it, and we’re so familiar with the story of Christ’s birth that we lose being in awe of it. Every Christmas I definitely need to remind myself how wonderful the story is and to really be in awe of it. We definitely love Christmas and we especially love celebrating it!

Baby sissy made this video of all the fun we had and it’s basically all of us just being a whole lot of silly…

We had quite a merry day celebrating the birth of Christ. The girls woke up and saw they had a gift waiting from Santa (his cookies were eaten and a banana peel left along with a thank you note) and full stockings, and they were all absolutely giddy to finally be able to open their presents. True and Soul got the Monchichis they were asking for, Brave got a mama-made Spider Man doll, and Soul got mama-made present as well. Another present favorite were the disposable cameras in their stockings. They went to town snapping pictures (I can’t wait to get them developed), though I think most of Soul’s are probably of the ceiling and floor since she keeps both eyes closed when taking a picture. They also had some other gifts from friends who sent them treats.

When Ben and I exchanged presents, we didn’t really have anything on our wish list, so it was interesting as to what we would end up gifting each other. I wanted new sweats (I’m so exciting, right?) and he says he just wanted gardening stuff. Funnily enough though, we both ended up gifting each other posters we made for each other. HA! I totally think handmade presents are the best. True even made her own handmade presents for all of us. She wrote me a book, made Ben a flying card, gave Soul a paper airplane, and made Brave a drawn paper fairy doll. Brave made her a paper drawn doll too. These girls are so thoughtfully creative.

For the girls, Santa always sends a community present. Last year was a record player and read along books, and years prior were a toy kitchen, dollhouse, doll crib, basically gifts that they can all share and play together. This year was a box full of dress up clothes for their costume box. I like that Santa wants to encourage sharing and togetherness. He knows what works best for us.

The day was spent watching Christmas movies, toy playing, making gingerbread houses, snacking on a bunch of cookies all day long, and lots of tamale making (Lots!). We also gifted the girls these wooden dolls, so that we could spend part of Christmas day as a family making it together and that’s just what we did. We (well, Glow was napping) all sat around the table painting the dolls together. Ben and I always enjoy making things with the girls and we think the feeling is mutual from them, so I am glad we had this designated project to work on. Holidays are so busy being busy and doing things for the girls that sometimes I think we forget to do things with the girls, so I was glad we were able to do something for and with them. I’m thinking this will be a new tradition in our gift giving for Christmas, so besides their community gift from Santa, one request from us, they will also get something that we can all work on together on Christmas Day.

We also spent some time talking with Grandmama and Auntia Suzi in Texas and went over to my Aunt’s house for dinner. Our typical Christmas was thrown off slightly because my dad was in the hospital getting surgery (thank you to those who prayed for his recovery!), so we didn’t do our traditional Christmas Eve get together with my family, but doing it a few days later was just as good.

I think usually I feel stressed on Christmas trying to get a lot of things done, but I am so glad that we were able to be intentional and make sure we were enjoying the girls. Ben also made sure to read “What God Wants For Christmas” with the girls because we want them to understand and know the reason we celebrate this special day. Besides all these material presents, God also gave us the wonderful gift of his Son and we want our children to share in that joy too. I love them so much and my heart is happy just seeing how thrilled and thankful they are. I hope your Christmas Day was full of lots of  joy and merriment as well!

And I’m back in this space for real and this week will be on our holiday recaps and next week it will be back to normal. Hello again friends!!!

Hi friends! I’ve missed this space, but I think it was a good and necessary silence that was right for me and my heart.  I just wanted to say hello and pop back in real quick before the calendar changes to 2013. I will be back to my regular posting afterwards and I have lots to recap on. Ben’s been home, which totally helps my sanity , and the girls have been having a blast with their Christmas surprises.

It’s nice and cold here in Southern California and I am loving every bit of it. I even finally finished crocheting a scarf I started last winter, it never got cold enough last year to finish it, but with the cold we are currently experiencing here (well, it’s cold for us!), I figured it was the perfect time to add those last couple lines in.

Happy New Years Friends!!!

Everyone is in shock over the horrific killings that happened in Connecticut. Those were kids, just like the 4 little ones I have in my home. Pretty much the same age too. Something like that robs people of so much joy and replaces it with deep mourning and suffering. It could happen anywhere. Life is so fragile. We were reminded of that during Danika’s recent passing and here again with this atrocity. It’s really quite sad.

I cannot even imagine the heart-wrenching, suffocating, and excruciating pain the loved ones of those children and teachers (and community) are experiencing. I don’t think words could really even fully express. I don’t even think crying all day and night for weeks on end could even capture the magnitude of that pain.

The fact of life though is that we all will one day each take our turn with suffering. I’m not a pessimist, but it’s just plain truth. Death is inevitable and pain does come. We all just take our turns in different ways. My hope is in Christ and one day there will be no more pain and suffering. One day it will be as God intended… to be in full enjoyment of Him and all of his creation free from any death or sin. Through this absolute devastation, when we have lots of questions, but are given no answers, I will continue to trust God.

Things I have read and listened to that help strengthens my resolve to trust God even when things don’t make sense…

– This message of good news about the gospel. This is where my ultimate joy is found.

– I love how this read helped me understand grief and tragedy in relation to God.

– This message on “Suffering Well”. This is shared by my friend Eric, who is Danika’s uncle. Their family is going through tremendous pain through the sudden passing of Danika and through it they are trusting God. Hearing this encouraged my soul.

– I like how Stephanie encourages to look for the helpers during tragedies like this.

These are just a few things popping in my heart. I appreciate that some of you still visit here even though we don’t share the same beliefs. During sadness and even joy, my hope should be in Christ alone. Things like this also remind me to be intentional in enjoying my girls and my husband, as well as all the other people in my life. It’s not the house, clothes, vintage furniture, or the presents under the tree that matters. When we all come face to face with death, all the material things we want or have accumulated will be the last thing we will be thinking about or desiring for. It’s not wrong to want and like things, but we must always have a bigger picture in mind. Life is not about stuff. Christ and my loved ones are the real treasures.

I was reading the schedules of the families in Connecticut and today starts the burial for two of the little children, tomorrow there are a couple more, and so on until the end of this week. It’s all so heartbreaking.

Thus, in the light of this recent tragedy, I am going to observe a week of silence here in this space. I can’t imagine going on and on talking about how to decorate this and that, Christmas wants, or even sharing pretty pictures of what we’re baking while so many families are in mourning.

I am always thankful for you and how you support my intermittent heart ramblings and I also thank you for understanding the silence I want to observe in this space. For me, this silence just feels right. Be back soon friends.

Chicken with Artichokes and Angel Hair. This had some good flavors and the girls were particularly fond of the artichoke and the capers, but while it did taste good, we didn’t love it enough to think that we wanted to eat this again soon. We used whole wheat angel hair and instead of butter, we use smart balance.

Roasted Cauliflower Risotto. This is my first time making and trying risotto. I liked it, but it was okay. The girls ate it the first night, but they didn’t want much of it for lunch. I put slightly more cauliflower than it calls for and I like that it’s full of it. For the rice, I used arborio, which we had left over from  when I bought some for the paella. To limit the amount of fat in the dish, I didn’t put the cheese in the risotto but sprinkled it on each bowl based on how much each person wanted. I also left out the almonds because True is allergic. We’ve got a big pot full left, so I have a feeling we’ll be eating this for a few days.

Cod with Herbed White Wine Lemon Sauce. This was served along with the risotto and they went well together. The girls loved this! I’m pretty sure my girls could be pescatarians one day, except True is allergic to shellfish. It was nice and lemony and I used smart balance instead of butter, and for the herbs, I used parsley and dill.

Week 12/17 – 12/21
Monday: Scallion Meatballs with Soy Ginger Glaze
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Swiss Chard and Pecorino Cheese
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Pizza night

One week left and then it’s Christmas! I won’t be doing any Christmas cooking as special occasion cooking is usually up to Ben. This weekly family meal planning started up because I wanted to challenge myself to cook. Ben used to come home from work and I would say, “So what are you making for dinner?” Ben is the natural chef in our home and I need to have directions in front of me to make a good dish. I’m learning a lot and am so thankful that I am able to make these yummy, and healthy meals for my children.

I am especially so thankful for the time we spend eating together at the dinner table. My heart aches for the families in Newton, Connecticut, who will no longer be able to do that with their children. It’s all quite sad.

Brought to you by the Brita Bottle for Kids: Help teach your kids to learn to love water. Learn more. Thank you for your continuous support of my sponsors.

Usually, stocking stuffers are a last minute thing for me, despite having all my Christmas shopping usually done by October! Then, when it’s the day before Christmas Eve, all these little ideas trickle into my mind of what to put in them, but with time constraints, I always just say,”Oh, I’ll do it next year!”

Well, next year is here and this time I am not waiting until the last minute. Ben usually always puts a piece of fresh fruit in all our stockings (he is a true dietitian after all). I usually get an Asian pear, which is one of my favorites. Though the thing I am most excited about is putting in a disposable camera in each of the girls’ stockings (not Glow’s). I want them to be able to take pictures of whatever they want on Christmas. I think those pictures would be so precious and that disposable camera thing is something I want to start doing every year in their stockings. Along with that and a fresh fruit, here are a few other healthy and engaging ideas for kids…

1. Just Blueberries. This is one of our favorite dried fruit companies. Or we may also just pick up a package or two from Trader Joe’s and stick that in. Besides a piece of fresh fruit, we typically also put in a package of dried fruit.

2. Washi Tape. The girls love to steal my washi tape, so I got them some of their own to use for their decorating pleasure.

3. Disposable Camera. I can’t wait to see the memories they capture on their own. This will be a new yearly tradition for sure!

4. Just Veggies. If you’re going to give them some fruit, make sure to add some veggies!

5. Brita Bottle for Kids. We don’t have a filtration system and have always used a Brita pitcher to filter our water, so I was pretty excited to team up with Brita to share with you their kids bottle. We’re all definitely big water drinkers in our home! The girls have some bottles they bring with them to school, but it’s always leaking through their lunch pails, so I think I want to give this one a try!

6. Story Doodles Place Mats. This is a such a fun way to engage kids (and families) at the dinner table. I think creating stories together is a great way to make memories. Roll it up to stuff it in the stocking!

7. Crayon Rocks. These little crayons are so easy to whip out when they want to color and draw. We’ve used them in the past, but I think it’s time for a refill.

The girls are so excited for Christmas and I need to start wrapping presents! Most of our Christmas decorations are up, but there are just a couple more things I want to add. We all love this time of year and getting to experience the joy in scheming to surprise loved ones with things you know they will appreciate and love! Do you do stocking stuffers? If so, I would love to hear what kinds of things you put in!