Christmas Eve is finally here, one of the most anticipated days of the year.

My children are giddy with excitement to open their gifts and spend Christmas day together (as if we are not together everyday, haha!) as we share the special meals I will prepare.

On Christmas Day we troop to my in-laws place and spend the day with them. As my usual practice of frugal Christmas, I’ll be giving baked goodies probably like these chocolate surprise cookies in reusable containers. Good thing I got some loot I managed to stash carefully for giving away like bottles of beauty products, promtional tea and coffee samples, bottles of spray cologne, mugs and even pens

And because it is Christmas Eve, our home is now being filled with traditional Christmas carols, not just to set the mood right but also to remind us that we are celebrating this day because God gave His Son to us.

The Advent wreath and the tree is surrounded by gifts from people who love us (us = kids) and the ingredients for tonight’s feast are on the table. It truly IS Christmas Eve right now.

Exactly last year, I wrote about celebrating Christmas amidst the hardship or the financial strains. For me, I’ve learned to cope not just during Christmas and knowing how to have fun without sacrificing on quality.

I’ve learned to scrimp and splurge wisely, not just in writing I guess, but in real life.

Merry Christmas everyone and let’s celebrate the real reason why we have Christmas which can be found in the word itself so we need not look far

Female ballerinas are always the ones top-billed in ballet shows but the “strength” behind every lift and turn that needs support, it is the MALE ballet dancer or the ballerino or danseur who is the main man.

Here is a danseur from the Christmas Ballet Concert we watched last Sunday at the TriNoma. He seems to be flying, isn’t he?

More photos here.

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Vision. To have a vision is to dream but in order for the vision to take shape, one has to take a step-by-step approach to make the dream come true.

We start with a vision and a first step towards this vision. In the process, we slowly change within our self in line with our vision. Planning for the achievement of our vision is a way to be able to reach the end goal and maybe even beyond.

It is in this regard that UCC launched a Vision Logbook at the UCC Cafe Terrace, 26th Forbestown Center, Taguig City last December 7, 2010.

The UCC Vision Logbook has the top Leadership Experts in the country create steps to help bring change to those who desire change because they have a vision.

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I thought I knew my youngest daughter well when I wrote about her not verbally expressed toy list until I came to read the wish list she wrote in her Language Arts notebook.

I was flabbergasted! Whatever happened to the toy soldiers? and the Ben 10 watch? and the binoculars?

She got these in her wish list instead:

• an iPod (so that she can listen to her favorite songs according to her and because both music players she and Kuya have both gone the RIP way) – Told her she can use my mobile phone that plays good quality music though the part where the earphones are inserted is malfunctioning
• a mobile phone with a camera (not in the list but she told me she likes one because hers has flashlight-only special feature which she doesn’t really need daw)  -Err… I still need to get me that htc sense first,
• books – ok, that’s great
• t-shirt -ok, but she got a lot of those already and she wears uniform to school
• shoes – this was in the list I blogged about
• Barbie – err… she has several (with a decapitated one, ugh!) and I don’t think she needs a new one

So, I am stumped on what to give as her birthday AND Christmas gift. We did get a toy already which she personally chose during a toy sale so I still need one more. Ahehe, re the toy she chose, no sense getting surprised when your child doesn’t like her gift, right?

Hubby has entered into an agreement to do extra work for the company of a family friend’s mom. I know that this means extra time working and extra stress too, not just for him but for me who wait up for him to come home late almost every night during workweek. And yes, I have to wake up around 4am to cook packed lunches for the school children.

The logistics of setting up the cozy (ok, I just made the term nicer, cozy = messy-full-of-children’s-books and knick-knacks) home office slash library and equip this with rack mount PC and other new hardware seems to be a daunting task. Not because he needs to put in new things there but because there is so much junk to sift through, LOL.

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December marks the anniversary that I got juvenile insurance packages for my children. For someone like me who doesn’t readily believe in the benefits one can get from these programs, I must say, nine years has taught me to save to pay for the quarterly premium payments.

Of course there have been times that I had difficulty getting the resources in order to make it before my deadline. If only paying is as easy as doing a click here thing, then I would probably get an additional package to pay for.

Investing in good quality education is one of the things we parents have to provide for our children. There are times when financial strains hit us but we try to make do with what we have by:

• teaching the children the value of hard work
• teaching the importance of education
• having fun as a family does not necessarily mean going to the malls to shop but appreciating the simple things like nature walk or home-cooked meals eaten at home or even a good book can give one happiness
• Family Game Night made me realize too how we can add another activity to make family bonding even more special

Simple fun is by no means less fun.