Just this weekend, I kept on asking my mom why our church doesn't seem to announce any planned projects for the calamity striken provinces of Catanduanes. She said there was in fact a project under way and text messages were actually sent to members and last Sundays preacher as if heard me asking few times answered, "await for next week for further announcement but if you wish to know more contact Mr. so and so". How timely! And he even said that we should actually refrain from buying lavish, expensive gifts for each other rather we should think of "storing for the Kingdom of Heaven". I truly agree!

For those who doesn't understand the quoted statement, hmmm, the most simple explanation I can give is its the real essence and meaning of Christmas. These days Christmas seemed to be associated with materialism especially among children which is sad. Most of the time parents lack the initiative of showing what really Christmas is among youngsters. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

My mom and I had a pact, we won't be buying unnecessary or lavish gifts for immediate family members rather keep the budget for it and one or two big expensive dishes worth (to be served in our Christmas Eve table) will be equally kept. Example if we wish to have a whole leg ham we buy yearly and its worth more than Php 2,+++. We will also give a worth of Php 2,+++ for the project then. We still have several ideas and wish to contribute to the undergoing projects for Reming victims, wish us luck so we can do all of it for them. I will post other updates and contact details of organizations conducting projects so you too can take part.

***For those who probably wonder why I have refrain from posting gastronomic articles here, I have previously decided to take a semi blogging holiday and might only post pictures of events, parties, food and updates to my Christmas projects. I don't have the luxury of time to write lately and cooking and baking time had to be maximized. When I do such it means no measuring cups and spoons and digital camera on site! For those who know me well, I cook without the aids of measuring utensils. My measuring cups and spoons are all kept in the cabinets and are only used when I take recipes from cookbooks for baking. I and my mom are totally in dazed, dazzled state. If you have checked my extension blog at multiply and have seen my calendar, you'd have an idea how busy my days this December are.