Tag Archives: family

TV Viewing Habits

TV viewing mostly happen when we watch the news or a favorite (or two) mini-series during prime time.

So what do we watch?

The children love to watch DVDs and so do my husband and I.

I prefer to watch TV series on DVD and so does my husband.

The children though love to watch movies from the latest releases like Kung-Fu Panda and Wall-E to some of the movies that were released a few decades back like Lion King, Lady and the Tramp and even Mary Poppins.

Imagine how the tv stand looks like with all those DVDs scattered. I always tell the children to pack these things back in the albums where these belong but there are times when they do not do so.

Not having a cable connection at home means we are cheap we are able to cut on the children’s TV viewing time. They do have some cartoon shows to watch like their favorite anime shows or that sponge who lives n Bikini Bottom AND educational shows featuring animals, geography, plants and science.

What is your favorite television show?

Gift-Giving

Christmas is fast approaching and everyone is almost starting to feel the frenzy.

From the home decorations to shopping for gifts to preparing the holiday calendar to squeeze in all the holiday parties that will be scheduled for the coming month.

The Weekly Question was conceptualized last Saturday as we were doing some rounds at the Greenhills Shopping Center.

We were looking at some items as possible gifts for the kids. Yes, we do not surprise them, we ask them what they want.

The younger ones were still undecided but I think they want a bike. My eldest daughter wants to have a new compact flash for her mobile phone for memory enhancement. She has been asking for this for months so she decided to just ask for it as a Christmas gift so we can finally give it to her 😀

So now I ask:

What kinds of gifts do you give to your loved ones during Christmas? How do you choose what to give?

My answer:

Read more »

Todos los Santos

Todos los Santos is known in English as All Saints Day. In Filipino this is called Undas.

This is a day when the saints are being remembered. This is mostly a Catholic celebration because other religious denominations do not have saints.

Saturday 6pm we attended the anticipated mass. Then we had dinner here. The priest specifically stressed that the misalette in the pews’ boxes are not to be used for these are prepared for the All Souls Day which is an entirely different celebration.

This is usually the day that the people flock to the cemeteries to visit their relatives who have crossed over (although November 2 or All Souls day would have been more appropriate). This is also a day when scary stories abound in households and/or gathering. This is also a day when people who can’t physically go to their dearly departed’s physical resting place, light candles in their homes.

Did you light a candle and say a prayer for your loved ones?

Remembering

As we cap the celebration of All Saints Day and All Souls Day, the Weekly Question will focus on our departed loved ones. No, I am not asking you to play favorites with the question.

Who among your dearly departed hold(s) a special place in your heart?

My Answer:

I can not really say who among my dearly departed relatives hold a special place in my heart. Both my paternal and maternal grandparents are not with us anymore. I have only seen one, among all four of them, when they died. I miss them all.

My paternal grandfather, Dada used to be active in church activities that some of our relatives thought he must have missed his calling and would often tease him as “Father Porong”.

My maternal grandmother had magic touch in the kitchen. She can cook meals that one would never forget. It just that we didn’t live with them so I was not able to study how she did these things. In fact, I think nobody in the family got her special culinary talent. Except maybe my father who is now not fond of cooking anymore.

My maternal grandfather was a very hardworking man. He would wake up at the crack of dawn and go to work in the field. After lunch, he would sit on the hammock hanging below the house. He would then go back to the field with his cart, pulled by a carabao filled by root crops and vegetables.

My maternal grandmother stayed in the house and did housework. She would sometimes get herself busy playing solitaire or one would find her sitting on her rocking chair by the window facing the direction where my grandfather would walk from the field.

I miss my grandparents. I really wished I was able to stay with them more, especially my maternal grandparents. Now I know why my mother permitted me then to travel to their place by myself when I was as young as 12 years old, to be with them. To enjoy fun times with them, to learn from them, to spend time with them. Because I was young then, I enjoyed playing with my cousins rather than spending time with them.

Alas, we can’t turn back the clock and do things that we would have wanted to do with them.

To avoid regretting not doing these things, perhaps it is time to change how we treat our loved ones by spending more time with them and keeping them closer to our heart, before time runs out.

Family Vacation

Families take vacations during breaks in schedules. They either spend time at the beach or go up to places where the air is cool and clean. Some even go abroad.

As a family, we love going to out-of-town trips. We wish to spend a night or two when we do so but sadly, we haven’t had a vacation for several years now.

The last one that we spent out of town for several days happened three years ago. We did enjoy that one, swimming, exploring caves, hiking and just simply admiring nature. We didn’t even have our youngest daughter with us then because she was too young to be doing the things we did.

We always talk about doing that kind of vacation every year but we can’t simply because there is no one who will be left behind the mind the house while we are away.

We have been thinking of saving and investing in security systems for the house so that we can at least have a vacation. But then again, the dog is also a consideration when we are gone even if he is practically our security system for now 😉

I hope that we can really plan for the next vacation so that we can have a different kind of bonding time.

I sure need to have a break, even for a few days.