Sunday, December 03, 2006

Traditions

Surfing through the Saturday photohunt put me more into the holiday mood with all the pictures of Christmas trees and lights, so I decided to share some of my own..... (12/06/06 Addendum: I came across the Holiday Decorations Parade c/o Wystful1, in my WW surfing, so I decided to add this post there...)

On Friday night, went out on the traditional search for the perfect Christmas tree for the family. A family friend visiting from the Philippines came along.... it was her first time and it was perfect tree hunting weather complete with snow to put you in the Christmas mood.....
This one looks good.....and the finished product c/o mom and tita.....but hey, I did the hard parts like sawing off the end, straightening it, and checking all those lights to find that single defective bulb that made the whole string not work! Wish I could capture the smell of it too and post it.... it's awesome!

Other traditions:
Waiting for baby Jesus.....He stays on the Christmas tree with the Angel until Christmas eve.....Parols! (Philippine Christmas lanterns) new and modern....

old and traditional.... (I made this in high school and Canadianized it by making it out of hangers and garbage bags - i.e. glad kitchen catchers, in lieu of rice paper and bamboo.... it needs to withstand a Canadian winter!)


The Advent wreath.....The three wise men....visit the new born king....Ornamotion.... tree ornaments that move.
Peace on Earth:


Angels:

Elves decorating a Christmas tree:

Santa in his sleigh:

Chocolate advent calendars..... Just 21 chocolates 'till Christmas. My mother still insists on buying this for my brothers and I. These days we usually end up eating them all on the same day. Incidentally, Santa still stuffs our stockings whether or not we're home for Christmas, or whether or not we've been good.... she.... I mean HE doesn't have a clue anymore.... we just indulge her.

Passing on the traditions:













Aiden gets his own tree this year.....Well, the halls have been decked and 'tis the season to be jolly. Outwardly speaking we're all set for the big day (well not the shopping part for me that is).... time to look beyond the external tinsel and lights, and look within. With a single lit candle, the Advent wreath reminds us that the season of Advent has begun. Advent from the Latin Adventus=coming, the church's season of expectant waiting and preparation for the birthday of the Lord. A time to re-examine ourselves, recognize where we are lacking, and reconcile ourselves so as to be ready for His arrival. In essence though, every day of our lives should be an advent.....
parate viam Domini rectas facite semitas eius
Matt. 3:3
"Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths"....

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28 comments:

tina said...

Nice pictures. And wow. Real trees talaga. Walang ganyan sa pinas.

Youre very creative. ahhi..

Miss Blogger said...

This post touched my heart, Angelo. Made me remember my mom, she's been gone for a year now and Christmas was never the same for us. But hey, everything's okay now :)

Had a good laugh with the chocolate calendar and Christmas stockings... good of you and your siblings to indulge your Santa hehe

The lanterns are great! Very Filipino ^_^

Anonymous said...

OMG!OMG!OMG!
Thats the most beautiful xmas tree I`ve ever seen!!And you sure have a white xmas out there,its already snowing. :)can i spend my xmas with you?haha!

Theyre all fascinating,really!you and your family did a good job out there.and hey,the moving ornaments are so interesting,how did you post those by the way?are they video clips?

goshhh,beautiful...
making me excited of xmas :)

indeed,Angelo...our lives should be an advent everyday :)

thanx for sharing the pictures and your thought.

ingat :D

Angelo said...

Hi Tina, oo nga, thats why nag enjoy talaga si Tita... nag snow pa!

Angelo said...

Sasha, I'm sorry to hear about your mom, but I'm glad everything's alright now.... in recent years, I've realized that I better enjoy and not take these things for granted, because I know I won't have my parents forever..... but let's not get depressed! 'tis the season to be jolly.

Angelo said...

Hey Ghee! Sure you can spend Christmas here :) I doubt we'll have a white Christmas though, el nino is supposed to make it a warm winter....

the ornamotion are GIF's I took a video but converted it into GIF format so it's continually looping.

Hope you'll make and have a great Christmas over there in Japan Ghee!

Anonymous said...

i appreciate a warm weather,though..

thanx for the tip,Angelo.I got an idea from you if ever i wanted to post a GIF like those. :)

good morning,err,good evening!
ingat and dont catch a cold :)

Leah said...

Hi Angelo, ganda-ganda naman. We got our tree today. Bukas pa namin i-de-decorate. Your pictures are awesome and the tree looks great. And the snow..wow, nice touch to the event di ba?

Tigersan said...

Wow... there is so much going on there :) Happy, happy, happy... Joy, joy, joy!!!

Anonymous said...

No problem Ghee! Thanks I'll try not to catch a cold :)

Anonymous said...

Hey Leah, yeah we have my mom and tita to thank for the tree :) and yeah that snow was perfect, especially for the tourist among us :) hope to see pics of your tree when its up... happy decorating :)

Angelo said...

Ohayou Tigersan! Happy holidays!

Anonymous said...

Hi Angelo this is Haze a filipina blogger from France! Those are just wonderful shots! You remind me to put on my Chirstmas tree and start decorating! Kaso plastic lang yong sa amin! Hirap maglinis eh :( ! Tsaka those lanterns (parol) hay nakaka miss talaga!

BTW, thanks for visiting my blog, buti naman naintindihan mo yung french kong balu-baloktot :)! Dinadaan ko sa blog para ma-practice ko rin! Have a nice day to you all !

Anonymous said...

Hi Haze! Nice to see you. you're right, medyo makalat lang ang real Christmas tree :) Plastic is good! Happy decorating to you et joyeux noel :)

Viamarie said...

Very good works kababayan!!!

My entry is up too.

Anonymous said...

Salamat Viamarie! will check yours out :)

Anonymous said...

OMG! Your tree is just gorgeous. And your home must be smelling so fabulous now. Sobra akong inggit!

Anonymous said...

Thanks Toe, and ya the smell is awesome!

Cat said...

Wow, that's a real tree...a real big Christmas tree.

i have never seen such a Christmas tree in my life, including the snow scene in the first picture.
i like the smile in your faces.
They are all amazing!

but..where was the cat?

Unknown said...

Awesome pictures. I especially like the lanterns. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Cat, Nermal sniffed it a couple of times then went to take a nap :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for dropping by Beckie!

Wystful1 said...

Oh my!!! Such wonderment. I would like to know more about the traditional lights!! Parols? I will have to look them up on Google and find if we can get them here in America somewhere....so beautiful!!!

Love your parade traditions post!! Very lovely indeed!! And snowflakes to make it all just right!!!

Happy Holidays.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for dropping by Wystful1! And thanks for your Holiday Parade, it put me into the holiday mood for sure. Good luck with your parol search, I'm sure you'll find something in the States? I know here in Toronto, there's a specialty shop that sells arts and crafts from around the world.... maybe you have something similar? Take care and happy holidays!

Anonymous said...

So beautiful! Picking the tree out in the snow and you decorated it so well! I love your lit up nativity scene too!

Anonymous said...

Thanks Kristarella :) Cheers!

Michelle said...

Beautiful tree! I love how you wrote about all your traditions! And the Lanterns are amazing. Here is my link for the holiday parade:

http://micmcllst.blogspot.com/2006/12/holiday-parade.html

Angelo said...

Thank you Michelle! A very Merry Christmas to you :)