Happy Holidays!!

How are you guys coping up with Christmas 2014? It seems that this holiday season has been steadily becoming a stressful event as the years go by. Too much traffic, too much commercialism, too much everything. Do you feel that way too?! Thankfully Labsie and I have kids so there's still that bit Christmas magic in the air :) This year, we started the Advent calendar with simple Bible readings to explain the real meaning of Christmas to them. Hopefully, when they are all grown up, they wouldn't buy into all that holiday commercialism crap. And before I even go more Scrooge-y, here's our lovely holiday greetings! Haha! Pic taken from our wedding anniversary this year. I love it so much!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone! :)

Where's our kids you ask? They're on another holiday card, the one with our entire family of four in a reasonably nice pose. Haha! You know how it is when you take family pictures, one kid (or two) is bound to ruin the entire photo ;-) I will update this post when our family Christmas card is up on our new blog. Yes, I still have not introduced our new blog here but I already did in our Davao wedding blog so go over there and find out about it! :)

UPDATE: Here's our family Christmas card. Check out the kids, haha!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! :)

It's our baby girl's FIRST Christmas and everything is just awesome! Sure, we have a hectic and full-packed schedule starting tomorrow (involves traveling back and forth 3 cities, with a baby on tow!) but the Lord is truly good for He blessed us with the best families, relatives and friends a person could ask for; who, I know, will help us til the holidays are over :) From our family of three to yours, have a wonderful Christmas season!

it’s Christmas Eve!!! ^_^

This is my first Christmas post as Mrs. Melissa Solito-Elbanbuena and will probably be my last post for the year 2008. And what a dramatic year it has been! Not just for me but for the whole world (economic crisis, epidemics, disasters, etc). WHEW! I wonder what’s in store for 2009?? o_O For this blog, expect my personal 2008 Year in Review, more of our wedding pictures and finally, our honeymoon photos! I know a lot of people have been waiting for that (so sorry guys!) but I’ve been really busy (yeah, pathetic excuse I know) even after our wedding last October. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

One, I was choosing and segregating wedding photos from 5gb worth of that stuff. I got to choose what to send to the printers, what to put in the albums we’ll give to our parents (the official storybook album was taken cared of by the studio), what to reprint for families, friends, and sponsors. The task seemed daunting! But I finally finished it and was even able to post some wedding photos in this blog =) Two, I was making a wedding invitation (second page below) for my cousin who’s in Zamboanga (his bride is in Dubai). Thank god for email!! I finally finished it first week of December. And yeah, I did it for FREE =) Three, loads of extra online work! Gotta earn dough for my insurance payment due this month!

Four, I was going out of my wits Christmas gift shopping for 2 families, 4 clans and 4 godchildren. Gahh!! Also, Labsie and I had a hard time scheduling how we will spend the meager holiday vacation time he has. Unlike most employees who had a 12-day vacation, Labsie will only be free on Dec. 25-27 and 31 (yes, he had work on 24 and 30!) and Jan 1-2. And since we knew his family was hankering to spend time with us, we knew we had to squeeze a mini-vacation in Panabo (his home). And did I mention already the 2 baptisms, 4 school reunions, and 4 family reunions that we have to attend? But wait, there’s more! Four of that reunions will be on Dec. 27! Are we supposed to halve our bodies now?? LOL! I tell you it has been (and still will be) a hectic December for us! Married life is effin’ crazy during Christmas!! o_O

Christmas 2008 tag!

Ten more days to go and it's Christmas! Can’t wait!! ^_^ Join in the fun HERE!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? both, depending on the gift =)
2. Real tree or Artificial? haler, as if we have a choice here in Pinas! artificial, what else??
3. When do you put up the tree? after All Souls Day (Nov 2)
4. When do you take the tree down? after 1st Sunday of January
5. Do you like eggnog? nope =(
6. Favorite gift received as a child? my one and only Barbie doll, hehe!
7. Hardest person to buy for? my pesky brothers
8. Easiest person to buy for? Labsie =)
9. Do you have a nativity scene? yes, but it lacked one wise king, LOL
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? either, it's the thought that counts ;-)

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? hmmm.. can't remember!
12. Favorite for Christmas dinner? ham and Mama's fruit cake (which she didn't make this year! sniff!)
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? as early as January, hahaha!
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? yup! the receiver needs it more than I do ;-)
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Christmas cookies and Mama's fruit cake!
16. Lights on the tree? definitely! =)
17. Favorite Christmas song? "Christmas in Our Hearts" and "Perfect Christmas" by Jose Mari Chan
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? as long as I'm with my family, doesn't matter =)
19. Angel on the tree top or a star? star! but this year, Mama put up an angel.. the new trend?
20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? anytime during December! LOL

credit: Typepad banner from Blog in a Box: Little Joys by Zoe Pearn

do you like my new Christmas blog theme?

NOTE: for Multiply readers, head on to yes, it’s ME to see what I’m talking about =)

Me? I love it! After all it’s PINK, hehe! Don’t worry pink haters, it’s a very pale shade of pink, more like old rose actually. And before you heap praises (or maybe insults, boohoo) on how beautiful and Christmassy my blog looks, I didn’t do this. Hehe! I actually bought this Blog in a Box set for $6 from Zoe Pearn =) It came with 3 background papers, 2 photo banners, 1 non-photo banner, 1 Typepad banner, 2 blog post separators, 4 labeled sidebar graphics, and 4 blank sidebar graphics. Now that’s great value for money!! And I actually bought 2 sets =p

My only problem is that the JavaScript I put on the sidebar doesn’t work. As you can see, I have no skyscraper Adsense units and other monetize-your-blog widgets =( Also, I have yet to edit the HTML code of my layout. I still have to improve lots of stuff, hay! And come February, I’ll have a new theme (the second one that I bought) which I’ll use until November. Yup, it’s goodbye to my stark white Minima blog theme for the moment. Time to go cutesy and girly girl! Hehe!

STICKY Christmas Countdown!

merry christmas!

THIS POST IS NOT FROM MY PHONE =)

Finally got around to making a Christmas desktop for our PC! This desktop QP is from PinkuPixie.com -- the woman who runs this blog is so talented! And the freebies she offer are printables, i.e. she has lots of Christmas tags, ready-made Christmas cards, etc. All you have to do is personalize her freebies, print it out and voila! Instant pretty Christmas stuff for you =)

Malagos Garden Resort Macaws!

I've been to many animal shows (dolphin, sealion, horse, dog, etc) but I've never seen a bird show before. And I was in luck coz Malagos Garden Resort (where we are right now, see previous post) has one. And an interactive show at that! The show is hosted by Dr. Bo, a vet and boy, was I impressed :-) The show featured doves, parrots, macaws, ducks, brahminy kites, hawks and several other raptors. There was a basketball game, a waste segregation lesson, a courtship, name it- the Malagos Bird Show had it. Hehe! If you're interested, there's a show every Sunday at 10am. Go watch!Ü

Shell Family Day!

And the star of the event is the chocolate fountain! Hehe! Adults and kids alike trooped to this yummy confection once it started running :-) This year, the Shell Family Day and Christmas Party for Mindanao is being held in Malagos Garden Resort. I'm here right now with my parents and Labsie waiting for the program proper to start. Bring on the games!Ü

lotsa fruitcakes!

Yum yum! :-) While most people dislike eating fruitcake, I adore it! Why? Coz my mother makes the most scrumptious fruitcakes ever!Ü Her secret? She doesn't scrimp on the ingredients -- she uses imported glazed fruits, molasses and liquor for that hard to beat delish fruitcake taste! And per tradition, my mother bakes lots of this for giveaways to relatives and friends. Want one?Ü

can't post via my phone!

THIS POST IS NOT FROM MY PHONE =)

For the past few days, I can't blog from my SE K800i phone. I don't know what's wrong -- or from what end the blog posting error is coming from. Is it from my phone? Or from Blogger/BlogSpot's end? It's so darn infuriating since I have lots to share. Yes, the past few days of my life have been quite interesting, well at least to me. Hehe! Last Sunday (December 9), we went to Kidapawan for my grandfather's death anniversary and as usual, there was a handaan (food feast) full of Pinoy dishes. Yum yum! =)

Then the next day (December 10), Labsie brought me the first book (Scorpion) of L5R's Clan War series. I'm addicted to Legend of the Five Rings (L5R) and this is the first time I've read it again since college. Man, I totally missed Rokugan! =I And then just today (December 12), we went to Q Resto in Damosa where they served EAT ALL YOU CAN greaseless fried chicken, rice and iced tea for only P150! Too bad Labsie was too full to get a second serving of the yummy chicken! He was served half of a very plump chicken for starters and apparently, that was quite enough for him. Hehe!

I can't wait to photo blog again! Once everything is okay, look for the individual posts of the stuff I mentioned above below this post. I saved the posts and its corresponding photos on my phone already. I only have to publish it here. Anyway, here are more Christmas surveys from dNeero:

- CHRISTMAS -

THIS POST IS NOT FROM MY PHONE =)

Anyway, you can check other Christmas surveys I answered HERE, HERE and HERE =) Go check them out! DNEERO surveys are so far my easiest moneymaker. I just answer the survey, post it in my blog and VOILA! I earn $$$ =) Go join guys! How? Just click anywhere in the lower part of the survey widget below and it will take you to the DNEERO's page. Happy earning!

finished XMAS shopping! =)

THIS POST IS NOT FROM MY PHONE =)

Finished Christmas shopping for my family and Labsie's family last December 1. It was really fun while we hunted for imported bargains =) Labsie complained of sore feet and we didn't even walked around the mall stores a lot! Maybe guys are just made differently from women. WE are built to last, at least while shopping. Hehe!

Anyway, here's more Christmas shopping surveys I did. The others I answered are HERE and HERE. Go check them out! DNEERO surveys are so far my easiest moneymaker. I just answer the survey, post it in my blog and VOILA! I earn $$$ =) Go join guys! How? Just click anywhere in the lower part of the survey widget below and it will take you to the DNEERO's page. Happy earning!

Kidapawan!

I'm with my parents right now here in Kidapawan, nestled at the foot of Mt. Apo, Philippines' tallest peak. The weather here is very cold so temperate and winter plants grow well in our lil home here.Ü One of the seasonal plants already in bloom is the vibrantly colored poinssettia pictured above. So beautiful! And its red color is so perfect for Christmas :-)