Christmas was not only challenging for me, it was a season of catching the worst "bug" ever since I came to America. The bug celebrated Christmas with me until New Year. So, that means I had been "barking" from time to time for more than a week, LOL!
Thank God, I am feeling better now. I was deprived of sleep for the past few days because of the cough, but I now am getting good sleep for the new year 2009 :)).
Anyway, after Christmas, we thought of going to Longwood Gardens (one of our favorite place to hang out) in Pennyslvania to watch the Christmas lights. We didn't expect it was much of a challenge to get a parking spot that night of December 26th. Our parking was far away from the garden where a bus had to pick us up. But the Longwood Gardens staff did a wonderful job! Kudos! :).
We enjoyed the beauty of the garden lighted with sparkling colored lights at night...no wonder, one of the staff told us they receive at least 15,000 visitors every night for the holiday season! Whew!!!
We went home early afternoon of December 27th, and I was knocked down on bed! LOL!
It was all worth it. I trully enjoyed the spirit of christmas as well. Thank you Lord...we are so blessed! :).
Haven't been around lately...I'm sure some of you knew the reasons, and for those who were unaware, you will know as you read along! :).
Anyway, our christmas preparations was tough and both I and hubby were so much in pressure to beat the deadline for only 10 days to complete everything before Christmas day!
Honestly, we didn't have any rest coming home from our 8-day trip in California, Nevada and Arizona respectively. We arrived back home on Dec. 13, and completely settled down morning of Dec. 14, and catched up for church in the afternoon, still on our jet lags. We still didn't have any single christmas decor at home...not even the tree was up, not started our christmas shopping for gifts, etc...
Monday (December 15), I started to get panicky, hubby had to go work, (he had tough day there), and the house turned into a mess for all the preps I did, while we decided to shop nightime, and the weekend. (Thank God, all was done smoothly).
Our gift wrapping session was done separately. (I did mine upstairs, and hubby did his own down the basement). I couldn't join him since he said he'll be wrapping things for me :). Our wrappings were completely done exactly at Christmas eve! Yey! at least we beat the deadline! LOL!
The next day was exciting. I woke up 11:30am and hubby said it's time to open gifts! As usual, excitement comes with me at this time of the year :). We usually start it with a brief bible devotions and prayer before opening our gifts.
The Gifts:
I gave 12 gifts for hubby...(thank God, he loved all of them :)). And I had 13 gifts from him. Usually, the first part of the day is I and hubby taking turns in opening our gifts under our tree at home. The second part will be a traditional Christmas dinner at mom's house after which we take turns in opening our gifts as well. Both I and hubby gave 22 gifts for mom, George and Jesse. They are giving us many presents every Christmas as well which make most of our day exciting!
I received 12 gifts from mom, 8 gifts from George, 1 from Jesse plus gifts from hubby... It's more than 30 gifts!!!!Overwhelming, isn't it? That's how Christmas is in the family! The fact that shopping for clothes is getting expensive nowadays, it's as good as I had shopped for clothes for the whole year! ...all gifts! at no extra cost!
Thanks a lot mom and George!
Hope you had all the merriest Christmas ever! HAPPY NEW YEAR one and all!
It's already past 1 in the morning, still tired and exhausted from a non-stop work for our christmas preparations.
We only had 10 days to prepare everything before Christmas since we came back from our trip.
So, I had tough days, from setting up the christmas tree, getting the hanging ornaments back to their hanging spots, (I had 3 days digging the box for this), shopping for gifts, gift wrapping....more shopping, more gifts, and more wrapping until wee hours in the morning {{{yawn!!}}}! I also included some things for our next balikbayan box :). I want to get it completed before we go home to the Philippines on April and at the same time be able to be there when the box arrives!
Thank God, we had half of the gifts given away! It's nice to feel and know we are sharing our blessings...a great fulfillment :).
I am still less than halfway done.
Please help me pray for good health. It seems my body is reacting towards stress. I got this sore throat that becomes unbearable during the night that makes me cough...disturbing. Hope you all have a blessed Christmas!
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