Originally published in 2017. But.. it’s that time of the year so I’m bringing this up. ;) Growing up with about a hundred cousins, Christmas gatherings and family reunions were huge parts of my childhood. I enjoyed the company of my cousins and somehow that made me believe I was a party-going social butterfly and Christmas parties are the only way to do Christmas. I couldn’t have been more wrong about myself. As I got older, I realised I prefer Christmasses to be quiet, intimate, and cozy. Late night movie marathons with my husband when the twins have gone to sleep is pretty high up on my gr ..read more

Christmas 2021. I have a thing for Christmas. As a (Filipino) pastor’s kid, I grew up in an environment where the Christmas season was traditionally merry and bright, and also crazy hectic! Christmas hymns blasted from the car stereo as soon as the “ber” months began, all Sundays of December were booked months ahead with church festivities, multiple Christmas parties, family reunions. We had a schedule that would put Santa’s Google calendar to shame, not that we believed in Santa. Young Rhiza looked forward to all of it and thought Christmas was the best thing ever. Everything drastically shi ..read more

Christmas 2020. Behind the one family photo that makes it to the proverbial Christmas postcard are a dozen outtakes and stories. This was us last year, Christmas 2020, at the height of the pandemic. We had been under lockdown for almost a year—and in the Philippines no less, the worst place in the whole world to be during a pandemic. I remember that day feeling like not wanting to bother to take photographs because who has the energy to take photographs? And wasn’t that the story of 2020? Languishing, if I may, where everyone was just at home all year “doing nothing” and yet, there’s very lit ..read more

Christmas 2020. Behind the one family photo that makes it to the proverbial Christmas postcard are a dozen outtakes and stories. This was us last year, Christmas 2020, at the height of the pandemic. We had been under lockdown for almost a year—and in the Philippines no less, the worst place in the whole world to be during a pandemic. I remember that day feeling like not wanting to bother to take photographs because who has the energy for photographs? At the same time, knowing we would thank ourselves later if we just mustered enough strength to dust off the camera, take out the tripod, step o ..read more

Originally published in 2017. But.. it’s that time of the year so I’m bringing this up. ;) Truth is, my eyes would light up at the sound of “Christmas movies”. Quite the introvert, going to Christmas parties for me is a feat. I do like Christmas gatherings and family reunions. I just have to exert extra effort to be social, if you know what I’m saying. I prefer it quiet and cozy and intimate. Ergo, late night movie marathons with my husband when the twins have gone to sleep is pretty high up on my list. Add some hot choco, caramel popcorn, a blanket, and the faint glow of a twi ..read more

It’s the first day of November and day 231 of this lockdown. Most of you probably stopped counting the days but, as someone who can count on one hand all the times she left the house in the past 8 months, I might as well just keep counting. And so it has been 231 days figuring out this “new normal”. For our household, grocery runs are the only essential trips we accommodated in the entirety of this lockdown, and thankfully the only essential trips we need to take so far. And by “we” I mean mostly my husband. (Bless his heart!) Mask up, face shield on, alcohol spray in one pocket, and cashless ..read more

A tad too late to the decade-ender party but as always taking my time to process it all—the decade that has passed, the new one that has just begun. I started writing this post in December, only to write up the last paragraph while in quarantine. Ha! I’ll save the quarantine thoughts for another post, this one is dedicated to the decade that was. If you told me at the end of 2009 that I’ve already met the man I was going to marry and that he and I would be raising twin daughters 3 years later, I would have laughed (or ugly cried) in disbelief. I was 26 years old, moving on from a bad breakup ..read more

Christmas 2019. “Best Christmas ever!”, says my daughter mid-jump, eyes twinkling bright like the northern star. I may have said something like “woohoo!” but deep inside I tried to recall past Christmasses and, taking my daughter’s declaration too seriously, secretly doubted that #Christmas2019 was our best one. The other day my husband and I were talking about the ordinariness of this Christmas. It’s really not that bad, to be honest. It’s just mostly uneventful and maybe even forgettable. Sure there were pancakes in the morning, Christmas carols on loop all day, late-nigh ..read more

Heads up: It’s on Netflix. It’s always been on Netflix, somewhere, underneath piles of shows trying to capture your attention this Christmas season. I highly recommend you look up The Star. The Star Animated Film, 2017 In case you don’t know, “The Star” is an animated movie inspired by the birth of Jesus, as told by a donkey named Bo. It was released in 2017, apparently underrated, and apparently with a star-studded soundtrack, including a Mariah Carey original which, by the way, the world needs to hear on repeat right now. I’ve never heard of The Star until last summer when I was routinely ..read more

Hanging by the door of their classroom in Kids Church, a signage goes “Pre-school: 4-6 Years Old”. One Sunday afternoon, as we were picking them up after the church service, our conversation went something like this— “Mom, what happens when we turn 7 years old? We can’t go to Kids Church anymore?” “What do you mean? Why not?”, I asked. “Because the sign on the door says ‘4-6 years old!” Ohhh yeah. Good thinking. And thanks for the reminder, kids. Although Dawn and Rain are already Grade 1 in homeschool, we kept them in their pre-school class in Kids Church per habit. We’ve been ..read more