Christmas Shopping

I meant to start my Christmas shopping early this year. I have a spreadsheet with my list. I also list down what I give annually and just easily cross out those who aren't in my current active sphere.

I miss buying gifts for my nephews and nieces. All of them have grown up already and live across the globe. My friends though recently brought their kids in our house, so I found a good excuse to find toys for chikitings.

A fairly new store opened nearby. It's called KKV and I was so happy with this discovery. I was happy to find stuff that can keep your hands busy. They have paint by numbers, crochet kids, wood model kits etc. They also have stickers and stuff for journaling. The other half of the store was full of beauty products which I didn't bother to explore, haha (all my make up has expired and I have no need for it).

Anyway, if you're visiting it, better to go early. The line to the cashier is very long. We also checked out National Bookstore. They have less books now, sad. If you must know, Booksale SM Bicutan gets their supplies on Mondays. It's better to go on a Tuesday since by then they have re-stockedntg the shelves 

Almost done with our list. Yay!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Making a Snowman

Moving in now to make a new cover for my food processor. I found a cute snowman design on Pinterest and after figuring out the measurements I thought it would be a perfect fit for my food processor.

I like the "autumn" colors used on the Pinterest. It took me awhile to find the perfect fabric for it. I hope I get it right. Gotta improve on my quilting skills!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Made a Santa Yoda KitchenAid Stand Mixer Cover

I've been eyeing to use a Santa Yoda grid design I saw on Pinterest for awhile now. I originally planned to make it a throw pillow case, but decided to use it for a new cover for my KitchenAid stand mixer. I decided not to do it by square to save some time. 

I missed sewing by hand, so I prepared to sew it whenever we had waiting time during our appointments. Good thing I did it that way because I realized I couldn't sew by hand continuously. My hand and wrist would hurt. It took me a two weeks to finish Santa Yoda. Completing the rest of the project took a week more.

Here's how I made it:

I realized I should make my kitchen covers "season generic", so I made the other pocket plain. I can just switch it around after Christmas. I'm sure it will take me time to find my other covers to replace it again, haha. I hope to make a pink set for Valentine's. It'll be cute!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Gonna Try Crocheting Again

It's been awhile since I did a crochet project. Last crochet project I made was a Yoda figure. It was hard and I planned to make more to use as Christmas tree decor. I never got around to making any since I got so busy at work.

Anyway, I saw boxes of crochet and felt projects yesterday at SM department store. Miggy parked me in front of it. There were four options for Christmas and a number of animal crochet projects (no cat option though!). I still have a Christmas felt project from Flying Tiger waiting to be done, so I got a crochet project.

I got a Santa crochet box and will try to make it today. I realized belatedly it's an intermediate level project, so let's see how I work this out. Hopefully, it will be easier than the Yoda crochet project I did years ago.

Happy crafting!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Last Stretch of the First Quarter

Oh wow! Did you notice that the first quarter of the year is almost over? I've been feeling exhausted the past few days, so I slowed down a bit.

I'm still working on clearing out my childhood home. It's truly exhausting, but I did get a surprise today when I found one of the Christmas decors I bought when I still lived with my parents. Cookie!

They're so cute! I wrapped it carefully and put it in a box. I labelled it so we can use it later this year. The heat though is making it hard to think about Christmas. 

That's it for today :)

#BeKind #StaySafe

How We Make Pineapple Glazed Ham at Home

How I wish Purefoods can make their fiesta ham available all year. It's one of our favorite dishes especially during Christmas. We always had it for noche buena. I learned to eat macaroni salad because of pineapple glazed ham. It matches perfectly!

I learned how to magically turned the ball of ham into a sweet one through Mom. She told me to just add 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Of course, I had to figure out what she meant. My Mom doesn't cook, but she knows all the processes and just directs whoever is cooking, hehe. 

I experiment every year on what to do with the ham. What's important for us though is to have a lot of sauce. My boys like adding some of the sauce to their rice whenever we have this. This year I added two cans of pineapple juice (the one you drink) and a can of pineapple chunks plus brown sugar to the ham. The ham drowned when it was plated. So just use 1 can of pineapple juice. It turned out alright for us though since we still had extra sauce until we finished the whole ball of ham. 

You can also add cloves. Just add it sparingly to the ham while cooking or baking. It adds flavor. We couldn't find any cloves, so we'll just do that next year. Oh, and you can also opt to bake it instead of simmering it in a pot. I find it easier to simmer since baking takes sooo long, haha. Purefoods also now pre-slices the ham, so it's much easier to serve. It was hard to slice in the past when it was one whole ball.

Plated by Sweetie :)

 

I'm keeping one more fiesta ham for Valentine's day, haha. That or maybe for the Lunar New Year. Or maybe a random weekend when we're off our meal plan, LOL. I'm actually thinking of getting one more since I could keep it in the freezer for a special occasion. I'll get one if it's still available in the grocery, hehe. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Celebrating Jesus Birthday

We haven't had time yet to take our annual family Christmas photo. Been busy in the kitchen the whole day, haha. So Brimsley, Grogu and Mando representing us first. The two kittens were hard to chase so just the older kittens.  

Promised we'd name the month old kittens. We've decided to name them Pikachu and Eevee. Here they are with their older sister, Mando. ❤️

Happy birthday Baby Jesus ❤️🎂🎁🎉

Made a Cute Santa Inspired Potholder

Found the Santa potholder I started last September. I cut the fabric and completely forgot about it, haha. Found it in my scrap fabric bin and worked on it last weekend. I haven't sewed since October, so this was a good starter project for me. Since I already cut the fabric and made the binding I finished this in one sitting. 

I thoroughly enjoyed making this project. The only challenging part was sewing the buckle part since I used bias tape for it. Maybe next time I'll just use a ribbon since that would be flatter and easier to sew. This potholder matches the placemats I made last year. I was hoping to follow the same pattern for other Christmas projects, but I ran out of time since I had to recuperate (my body takes awhile to heal now). 

Here's how I made it:

Maybe I'll make more to give as gifts next year. We'll see :)

#BeKind #StaySafe

Ready for Christmas?

It's been two and a half weeks since I was discharged from the hospital. I still felt woozy the first week I got home and rested a lot. Second week was a bit better. Finished all my post-discharge check-ups and luckily did not need any additional tests. My doctors said it's their Christmas gift for me! My energy is slowly coming back. No pulmo rehab for now since I still need to rest. 

Preparations for Christmas is going on. I haven't finished decorating! Haha. We got help from Squeaky.ph to help clean the house. It got so bad since we were away for 3 weeks in November. At least it's no longer dusty and all the bathrooms have been cleaned. Really helpful to get assistance from the Squeaky.ph team since we can't possibly do all the cleaning ourselves.

I haven't bought any gifts for family and friends! We prioritized the gifts for those who supported us throughout the year. That includes our medical team, the construction team, decluttering team, Squeaky.ph and our village security team, plus the delivery team. I had planned to quilt some stuff for friends, but that's going slowwwwwly (as usual). Well, it's okay, they understand (hopefully). 

What's important anyway is to be ready to celebrate Jesus' birthday. I'm truly grateful for a lot of things this year even after losing Mom. It's going to be our first Christmas without her. I've accepted the fact that it's her time. She would want us to celebrate Christmas as happily as we could. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Easy to Make Holiday Potholder

I actually made this potholder last October for a friend and in preparation for Christmas. My plan was to make a series of holiday themed quilt projects. I haven't made anything else since the unexpected schedule interruption, haha. I'm also waiting for my hand to heal a bit more. Sweetie said the hematoma on my hand won't look good on vids, haha. 

My go-to block is the pinwheel. It's so easy to make especially if you use the half-square technique. I remember making a huge pinwheel yellow blanket for Mom. I didn't know yet the half-square technique back then, plus I hand sewed and quilted the whole blanket. It took me two years to make it! 

To cut time, I also used layer cake fabric (10" square pre-cut fabric). I rushed to finish this project since I was sending it to a friend who was visiting Manila for a short while. I wanted to surprise her with the Christmas potholder. I hope they're using it now in the convent. 

Here's how I made it:

Pattern and more info on my sewing blog: https://www.needleadventures.com/2023/12/holiday-pinwheel-potholder.html

#BeKind #StaySafe

Our Other Christmas Tree

I'm used to having more than one Christmas tree at home. I started this when I moved to the basement in my childhood home. The basement had its own living room so I would set up a smaller tree.

Set up one more tree in our family room since that's where we spend most of our time in. We decorated it with music notes and the gnome Christmas decor. Took a more traditional approach when we decorated it. Turned out cute :)

We're still not done clearing up the house since I'm still recuperating. Hopefully will have a nicer living room by Christmas! Also haven't done any Christmas shopping haha.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Preparing for Christmas

We were very busy last week at home. Likely picked up some germs when we bought groceries and Christmas decors. We've also been working on decluttering my childhood home and moved some stuff. I probably had a hefty dose of dust from my Mama Lola's sewing machine.

Well, before this setback one of the things we were able to do is buy some Christmas decorations. I want our tree this year to be as vibrant as how Mom used to do it.

We first went to Rustan's. The decors were really beautiful, but very expensive! The tree I liked cost Php25k. It was way beyond my budget and the amount does not include the decor. Yikes!

Luckily, there was another department store nearby. They had more affordable items. We were able to buy a tree and additional decors. Ah, it will be our tree for many years to come, haha.

Since we've accumulated several smaller trees over the years. We're sending them to family and friends so it can be put to good use. I realized I don't really have that many decors because I've been mindful about space. It's been also easier to decorate because our decluttering coach organized the decors. Yay! 

Hope I'll be well soon because I haven't started any preparations for gifts! 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Throwback Thursday: Do You Like Performing During Company Christmas Parties?

When you're a newbie in a company in the Philippines they usually group you with other newbies to perform at the year-end holiday party. I was a newbie so many times and that meant I had to embarrass myself x number of times too. I absolutely dreaded it. 

The streak ended when I finally joined an international company. I was so relieved it wasn't a tradition for them. I know that the activity is meant to help newbies meet other employees and develop camaraderie. I'm an introvert, so performing and dancing in front of an audience is not my cup of tea. Plus, there's nothing to be gained from seeing my ungraceful body dance. You cannot imagine the hours it took for Jap and Dave to teach me how to do the otso-otso. 

The memory popped up in my head when I was looking through Google Photos. For some strange reason I'm already thinking about Christmas. I guess it's because I wasn't able to mail cards the past two Christtmases! I also did not finish my Christmas quilt projects last year. So I guess that's why I started to thinking about Christmas.

Well, much as i didn't like the activity, what I enjoyed was getting to know colleagues. Of course, there would be a lot of practices you have to attend and that gives you time to get to know others. I also had the opportunity to be part of holiday party organizing committee. A lot happens behind the scenes and well holiday parties are meant to be fun and memorable. 

I wonder though, are companies organizing holiday parties again? 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Happy birthday Jesus! And Merry Christmas to everyone!

Thank you Lord we were able to have a simple homemade meal to celebrate your birthday together with Mom! We were able to prepare our traditional food of ham, macaroni salad and spaghetti.We skipped the cochinillo this year and just ordered Baliwag lechon. The great thing is we have leftovers, haha. 

Merry Christmas everyone ❤️

#BeKind #StaySafe

Merry Christmas!

Miggy's down with the flu, so Sweetie and I split up the tasks. I focused on readying the kitchen while he busted out some of our decors. We finally have our Christmas tree up! Hooray!

Still have a long way before our home will be fully organized, Keeping things in makeshift mode for now. What's important is we are together to celebrate Christmas.

Merry Christmas everyone!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Creative Happy Tuesdays: Cramming for Christmas!

I haven't touched any of my quilt projects the past week. We've had to prioritize renovations and adulting stuff. Renovation work was supposed to finish today and be suspended until the new year. We're not done yet, haha, so work has been extended until Thursday. We hope to do some cleaning on Friday with the help of Gab's angels (a.k.a. Squeaky.ph). And possibly put up the Christmas tree on Saturday. Photo finish indeed! Well, nothing new because the same thing happened last year!

We had a light moment with the renovation team today. Chanced upon them in the dining room. Everyone was supporting Allan who was working on the top part of the cabinet. Told them it was a Kodak moment and I whipped out my phone to take a photo, that's why they were smiling when I took the photo. I like Team Alab because they have been pretty chill and have good teamwork. They always talk calmly to each other and I've never heard any of them raise their voice. 

I finally started wrapping gifts. It's been a huge challenge to find the gifts because the boxes have moved around a lot, haha. I have a list I update every year. We didn't have to shop since we have accumulated gifts from the past two years which got stuck with us in SG. Only thing we bought were noche buena items for the renovation team. We're not going to send Christmas cards again this year since the post office is very far. I still have some cards from last year which I wasn't able to mail (oh noes!).

Well, I don't have gifts yet for my boys and my Mom. I didn't get to buy it early because I didn't want it discovered.  What I wanted to get are out of stock now, haha. We've been so busy, we'll just improvise haha. Crossing my fingers we'll be given the go ahead to cook our noche buena. We'll know tomorrow if it's safe to use the induction stove*. 

The good news is Grey the Cat (the cat who adopted us) is back! He was MIA for a week and we were starting to worry. We have to work to make him feel safe again since we want to bring him to the vet. Meow! Happy Tuesday everyone!

*I can't use gas since my lungs can't tolerate the fumes. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

 

Daddy's Noche Buena

My Dad was active in the Knights of Columbus. He was the founding Grand Knight in our parish. I got to spend a lot of time with the "knights" (mostly our neighbors) because I'd tag along with my Dad whenever they had activities. One of those activities was the Sunday morning walkathons. I would be on my BMX bike while my Titos would walk. Sadly my Dad and most of my titos are in heaven now. 

That time me and my choir friends tagged along the K of C summer outing.

Daddy was very passionate about helping. One of the projects he had was helping the innocent go free from prison. We had several of those ship in a bottle as gifts from prisoners. He also gave free consultation as a lawyer. My Mom said she'd be surprised about receiving chickens when they were newly married. One of the most memorable projects Daddy initiated was the "Share a family" activity. 

Instead of just giving donations he organized a noche buena day with families from the developing area. They matched a member K of C family with the developing area family. Daddy thought that would be more enriching than just giving donations. This allowed two very different families to get to know each other while eating a meal prepared by the K of C family. It was indeed an enriching experience and we did it several times. Afaik, the K of C in our parish has been continuing the tradition, probably suspended for now due to the pandemic. 

Our outreach has been limited, mainly because my energy has been affected by my illness. It gives me so much joy to provide merienda for the crew who comes in to fix our home. I got them some mamon and softdrinks yesterday and their huge smiles made me happy. I wish I could go the extra mile and really prepare them a feast, but hope they appreciate the food delivery I've been getting for them. Simple joys :)

Merry Christmas everyone and happy birthday Baby Jesus! 

#Home51 #NewG195 #Xmas1 #StayHome #BeKind  

Christmas is About Love

Being the youngest had its drawbacks. I was only in my early teens when my siblings both got married, leaving me un-coupled during Christmas. It was sad, but Miguel came so since then I always had someone to bug and annoy.

I am celebrating this Christmas like no other Christmas because I now have my own little family - Jay, Miguel and me! And we're doing the usual Pinoy stuff - noche buena and reunions! Thank God we finished wrapping gifts just in time.

Merry Christmas everyone!

My 12 Days of Christmas

I was just chatting with Juned and he showed me his post about his 12 days of Christmas. I said he missed his crispy pata, so he made another version of his list. Anyway, he challenged me to make my own list minus tech gadgets. So here it goes -

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator


On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 
a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator


On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
three tickets to Bali

a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 

a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

four sets of bed linens

three tickets to Bali

a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 

a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

five pretty bags

four sets of bed linens

three tickets to Bali

a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 

a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

six OPM albums

five pretty bags

four sets of bed linens

three tickets to Bali

a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 

a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

seven pots of flower plants

six OPM albums

five pretty bags

four sets of bed linens

three tickets to Bali

a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 

a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

eight photo albums

seven pots of flower plants

six OPM albums

five pretty bags

four sets of bed linens

three tickets to Bali

a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 

a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

nine sets of curtains

eight photo albums

seven pots of flower plants

six OPM albums

five pretty bags

four sets of bed linens

three tickets to Bali

a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 

a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

ten fighting fishies

nine sets of curtains

eight photo albums

seven pots of flower plants

six OPM albums

five pretty bags

four sets of bed linens

three tickets to Bali

a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 

a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

Eleven bead boxes

ten fighting fishies

nine sets of curtains

eight photo albums

seven pots of flower plants

six OPM albums

five pretty bags

four sets of bed linens

three tickets to Bali

a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 

a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

twelve loving family members

Eleven platters of spaghetti

ten fighting fishies

nine sets of curtains

eight photo albums

seven pots of flower plants

six OPM albums

five pretty bags

four sets of bed linens

three tickets to Bali

a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 

a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator