OLA: Celebrating Christmas with Family

the reason for the season!

It was Christmas 2010 when we last celebrated the Season with family, in Seattle, Washington.  So now that my sister Cherry and her husband Rick have relocated to San Diego, California (it is a 6 ½ hour drive from Phoenix), we are taking the opportunity to celebrate together at their home. And, since Krishna, my first apo (grandchild)has also relocated to Santa Monica, California (only 2 ½ hours from Cherry) and she is off from her work Dec. 25 to 28, she is able to join us!

traditional git-giving before Noche Buena

Krishna and Zan at karaoke

We left at 9 am of Dec. 24. When we reached Los Angeles, we stopped at Seafood City, the chain of groceries in the US that caters to Filipinos living in large metropolitan centers, to get the traditional queso de bola (aged Edam cheese ball), a mainstay in the Filipino Noche Buena, midnight meal on the Eve of Christ’s birth. Then we picked Krishna up at Santa Monica’s Salon de Nesou where she got off work at 5 PM. We proceeded to her apartment to pick up her bag and have a hurried dinner.

skype session captures three Aberions in 2 states

We reached Cherry's home at around 8:30 pm after passing an Albertson's to pick up some hot chocolate mix, another traditional drink. After some Karaoke songs and a skype session with the Aberions in Seattle, we held the exchange of gifts over the Christmas table. Finally, at around 11 pm, we had a taste of the traditional Filipino Noche Buena. Bill added a European touch with the Christmas stollen, challa, and potica, breads we picked up at a European bakery in Phoenix.

Christmas Day started with left-overs from Noche Buena. By 10 AM Bill and I were at the Santa Sophia Catholic Parish where a beautiful Nativity Scene greeted us. The homily was extra special with this message taken straight from the Catholic Catechism: ‘Christmas is the marvelous exchange of God’s transcending love made accessible to those on bended knees.’  Jesus is the reason for the Season.

Chefs Cherry and Carol

the clan!

Cherry had also invited Ate Tesing, my mom’s niece, her husband Kuya Ute, their children Mildred and Joe and their families, and her brother Polly to Christmas Day Dinner. So soon after we got back we watched a hilarious Redbox movie, Worlds End, then the cooking resumed. Cherry prepared her beef caldereta, chicken macaroni soup, and apple pie while I made the popular Filipino dessert and tradition, ube haleya from purple yam, milk, and sugar. 

mano po Lolo!

By 7 pm they all arrived with green chicken enchilada casserole, pancit bijon (Filipino noodles), kakanins (Filipino rice cakes), and pumpkin pie. The main and the dessert tables were both overflowing with food. A lot of updates and banter went around and then there was the traditional gift-giving. Then the kids lined up for gifts of cash from Lolo Bill after the respectful mano (blessing).

The following day we took Krishna to Seafood City to pick up her month’s supply of food and to Macy’s to buy dark glasses, the Christmas gift from her godmother and Aunt Claudine. When we got home we had a final round of left-overs from the dinner party on Christmas Day. Early the next day we left Cherry’s warm home and hospitality to apply for a new Filipino passport as a dual citizen at the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles.

my first apo (grandchild) Krishna

at the Consulate

We stood in line from 9:45 to 12:45 am only to find out that I, as a senior citizen, did not have to! The guard was charming when he said, ‘But Ma’am, you don’t look it! ‘! That made my day! It was fine...we enjoyed a Japanese lunch nearby while waiting. But then it was slowly revealed that the day had been a series of mistakes by that time. Bill’s cell phone that was being charged and Krishna’s and my bags of groceries from Seafood City were all left at Cherry’s kitchen counter! Not fine! It would have been better if Bill didn't have to drive an additional five hours!

a Japanese lunch with Krishna

the entrees

the desserts

So after I filed my application and had my biometrics taken, we went back to San Diego, retrieved all evidence of senior moments, and made a U turn to Los Angeles. We stayed in Redlands, California that night, an hour and a half from Santa Monica and four and a half hours away from Phoenix. We got back to our RV around 2 pm, facing a new round of celebrations with friends for the New Year!

OLA: Loving Christmas around Viewpoint

a section of the 500,000 lights at a place in Phoenix, Arizona

the moon shining on  Christmas Tree Street

After finishing our own decorations for the Holidays, we drove around Viewpoint to see how the whole community is spruced up for the Holidays. The older streets featured common themes for the homes on them: cacti, Santas, bells, Christmas trees, reindeer, snowmen, gingerbread houses, etc. You must remember that all three types, park model homes, manufactured homes, and RV sites comprise Viewpoint. The Resort even has a red motorized train that takes people around to see the displays.  On December 14 there was a parade of decorated golf carts around the campground!

Christmas on golf carts parading in the desert

a tropical Christmas in the desert

However, unlike the campgrounds we had been in in the past there were not too many RVs that went out for fancy décor.  There were, however, simple but nice reminders of Christmas.  Lit palm trees were ubiquitous. In 2011 at Orlando Thousand Trails we found a sublime blue-inspired fifth wheel and in Yuma in 2012 we found a very colorful fully bedecked motorhome!

                                                                            When we had our fill inside the campground, we went out to find the best Christmas lights display of the Phoenix metropolitan area. I found an online map of those places, marked with how many lights were used in each place. We went to the two biggest ones, each of 500,000 lights, one in Mesa and the other in Gilbert, Arizona. Christmas is definitely in the air! And there are displays that are unique to this desert environment.

bright yellow poinsettias!

bright Cheesecake Factory

Shopping around Mesa, especially at the Superstition Springs Center Mall, is like shopping anywhere in the US. Hopping from store to store, I found several stocking stuffers for Bill (and he for me!). Wonderful décor also gave us more reason to be festive!  I even found yellow poinsettias on sale as much as the reds at all major groceries. And all the cakes are so festve this time of year. Then we found a Cheesecake Factory gift card from last year’s Christmas gifts that we had not used! So we were given a wonderful pre-Christmas dinner there after a hectic day of shopping!

the block party @ Wayne and Val's!

And, of course, our block had a Christmas party at Val and Wayne’s home at the campground. The couple had ham and potatoes for everybody. Bill and I brought Filipino style ambrosia for dessert. Carolyn and Mel brought nice apple salad, Bud and Bonnie lafsa (a Norwegian potato bread), and Chris and Bonnie the green beans casserole. Bill even came with a Christmas tie! The party was held a bit early because four of the five couples are going away to be with family this Christmas, including us! As a matter of fact, two couples were already gone: Clinky and Cam and Jim and Barb.

what Emmanuel means!

the fourth candle of Advent is lit!

In church, of course, the spirit of the season is very much in the air. Emmanuel means God is with us, written in bold letters as the fourth advent light is lit! Now we have to prepare for the Christmas meal!

OLA: Preparing for the Holidays!

nice but bulky

Thanksgiving comes right after my birthday and then Christmas is not far behind.  As soon as the turkey is devoured, preparing for the Christmas holidays sets in. In the Philippines, where there is no Thanksgiving Day, we prepare much earlier, as soon as the –ber months roll by (beginning September).  Although it gives us a much shorter period to enjoy the decorations in the US, the hefty discounts during Thanksgiving give us a wonderful timely period for buying Christmas gifts. These are the two most important preparatory activities for the Holidays, decorating the home and sending gifts and cards.

Decorating an RV is not easy because we do not want to carry around with us bulky décor. So we had been content with an indoor Christmas tree, a capiz six-pointed star, a poinsettia plant, a pair of His and Hers stockings, some garland, and red ribbons. We arrange them on our dashboard so they can also double as an outdoor décor, shining through the front windshield. But now, since we are at Viewpoint for 6 months, we went for more! Besides, Bill had installed a wide dark screen to shield our living room from onslaught of the Phoenix sun, preventing the décor from shining through.

our BIG gift!

When we went to Costco to look for ideas, we found cheap huge red and green shiny ribbon material (2 feet wide!). So we bought 40 yards of it.  I thought, ‘Why not make the RV a huge Christmas gift? So Bill ran the huge ribbons around its front, vertically and horizontally, and I made a huge bow to mark the center. Then Bill placed the brightly lighted capiz star at the middle of the bow and lined the ribbon edges with the new energy efficient LED Christmas lights, to make the gift also visible at night! Voila, our RV is now a huge gift for the season as it has actually been for us these past 3 ½ years! Storage of the  ribbons will be no problem at all! And the rest of our décor still complete our Christmas dashboard.

online buying

more practical!

Online gift buying, on the other hand, has reached fever pitch!  Over 6% of retail sales are done online and 3^rd quarter 2013 registered about $67B in total sales.  4^th quarter sales are always higher than other quarters and the total value and % value are steadily increasing over the years. Bill and I did all of gift buying online! With our children and grandchildren all living in three countries (US, Canada, and UK) the idea of scavenging for bargains on Black Friday and then having to ship them after was just not appealing. Drop shipping them through online storefronts is definitely much more practical!

the solar power system being installed

                 at Brgy Daculan, home to 1,000 residents

Besides, all my children wanted their gifts to go to the Haiyan relief effort. So from their combined gifts we were able to send a solar-powered system to benefit a barangay in eastern Visayas,  the typhoon ravaged part of central Philippines. For those interested in donating such systems, please go to http://www.gofundme.com/5n5zkk . As for my grandkids (ages 5 months, 7 ½, and 7) Toys R’ Us Canada and Target US were convenient online storefronts. The same is true with eBay for various items for my adult grandkids (16 and 21). Meanwhile, Amazon.com was helpful for Bill’s gift. And Froupon was idea for stocking stuffers, a tradition for Bill and me. They meet the budget of less than $10, usually have more than double the value, do not require shipping, and you can stuff many more of them in a single stocking!!!

Finally, sending Christmas greetings is so much easier nowadays. For the past 5 years, I have made customized Christmas cards using Microsoft Publisher using our photos and décor then send them through email and, in the last 3 years, also Facebook. We manage to reach many friends and family this way, maybe thousands now.

So our RV is all bedecked, my gifts are all bought, shipped, and some even already received, and greetings sent! What remain are the good-eats we will prepare for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. And that will be the subject of another post!

OLA: Staycationing in Scottsdale!

this is a permanent Christmas tree at a Scottsdale strip mall

compliments of the chef at Sol

We hadn’t been to a Mexican restaurant since our arrival here in October.  So we went to Sol and sampled their fare of fish tacos dorada and grilled carne asada burritos. We started with the complimentary chef’s appetizer and the traditional home fried tortilla chips and a selection of salsa, great refried beans, and chipotle seasonings.  Then the head waiter who liked chatting with us remarked, ‘Oh so you’re on a staycation!’

The word staycation is a combination of stay (or stay-at-home) and vacation.  Wordspy.com, a popular blog, attributes the earliest use of this term as in a 2003 article in The Sun News. The word became widely used in the United States in May 2008 when the travel season began with rocketing record high gas prices preventing many people from doing expensive travel. The word has since been added to the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary in 2009.

famous brewery restaurant chain, Gordon Biersch

Last week we had a short vacation in Scottsdale, Arizona. You might ask, ‘Aren’t you already always on vacation, cruising in your RV? What do you mean vacation?’  Well, even in this lifestyle, vacationing is a getting away from everyday living. In the past four years we did it 7 times, not counting the visits to children’s homes and reunions with family and friends.  First it was at Whistler BC in 2009; then it was in the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Macau, and Treasure Island, Florida in 2011; lastly, Miami, Florida and the Bahamas in 2012. So I use the term staycation here to mean a vacation where we don’t go to a faraway place, still stick close to home (the RV), but significantly alter our daily routines.

downtown Old Scottsdale

Scottsdale is a city adjacent to Phoenix with an estimated 2013 population of more than 220,000. The New York Times described downtown Scottsdale as "a desert version of Miami's South Beach" and as having "plenty of late night partying and a buzzing hotel scene". The city is loosely divided into four areas: South Scottsdale, Old Town (Downtown) Scottsdale, Central Scottsdale, and North Scottsdale. The real estate market in Scottsdale is among the most expensive in the United States, among the top ten markets in the nation for luxury home sales.  So we wanted a taste of this upscale urban Arizona city.

the almost private pool @ Zona

We stayed at the luxurious resort, Zona Hotel and Suites. We had a one bedroom suite complete with a full kitchen and dining area in addition to a spacious living area. The Resort features 4 heated pools and 4 hot tubs, neatly arranged with 2 casitas, each one with about 24 units, sharing each pool area. Bill and I visited the fitness center every morning followed by a dip at the hot tub.  By midday, however, we were out of the Resort, shopping, dining, and sightseeing.

my gown for a Scottish wedding

But the staycation was fueled by a burning shopping goal, Scottsdale being the best in the Phoenix metropolitan area. So I combed the outlets of Fashion Square Mall, looking for the ‘Mother of the Bride’ gown I will wear at the Guthrie Castle wedding of my daughter April in Scotland.  After all, tremendous Thanksgiving discounts were still in the air. I even emailed photos of the candidates I found to April for her approval. I finally found it at Nordstrom, a Takashi royal blue off shoulder gown, ‘ruched’ to perfection. Bill, on the other hand, needed a golf bag for his new try at the sport, Viewpoint having 2 golf courses and our neighbors on the street all avid players of the sport. He found a used one at a Goodwill store. We were right! They are havens for treasure at wealthy niches like Scottsdale!

Bill's new golf bag

In the evenings, we went around town to see the splendor of Christmas through the décor of an upscale town, much like what I used to enjoy in Makati, the Philippines’ financial district. We found a private home lavishly bedecked with colorful Christmas lights. Fashion Square Mall had its own dramatic display. Even a small strip mall featured a permanent Christmas tree that has become a Scottsdale icon. But most tourists visit and marvel at The Mormon Temple’s spectacular display that is nearer Viewpoint.

@ a Scottsdale shopping area

These short vacations or staycations we take away from the RV are great getaways for us. For one, it is a break from cooking for me and a breakl from my cooking for Bill! For another, they remind us that we will  return, one day, to a stick home to lounge and nest as we reminisce our good, old, active traveling days! 

a private home bedecked by Christmas lights

WOW: Turning 65!

our street Thanksgiving Party!

how Bill sees me @ 65!Add caption

I had a party! And the outpouring of greetings, cards, and gifts, on FB, snail mail, phone, skype, and personal, was such that my entry into the age of wisdom (?) felt infinitely glorious! I have a good label for myself as I cross this lovely decade…sexygenarian, being sexy in the 60s! Kidding aside, my first half into this decade has given me so many significant events; marrying Bill, becoming a US citizen, and then becoming a dual citizen, completing our north American cruise in an RV, and completing a manuscript for a book. As a result, I am enjoying several 'sexy' benefits.

First, I am now receiving double social security benefits from both the Philippines and the US! Never mind that the Philippine counterpart, even if I worked there for more than 30 years and in the US for just a year, is a mere 10% of the total! But the credit all goes to Bill, without whom the security of old age, both emotionally and financially, would not have been there. Second, I am already receiving Medicare benefits as of Nov. 1. Together with a supplemental plan for only a little over $100 a month, all my healthcare costs will be sufficiently covered and that makes me feel reasonably secure that I will have a longer, healthier life.

Best of both Worlds

But the best is that I enjoy being connected to both countries: both types of geography, island and continental, both kinds of history, young and old, both genres of systems, developmental and advanced, both sets of culture, eastern and western, and both groups of friends,  boisterous/clannish and quiet/private .  As they say, I now have the best of both worlds! And I feel truly blessed. Hopefully, the link will make me richer in content and fuller in ministries.

punctal plug insertion

But I must admit, this first half of my 60s was not all sunshine and roses. I began to feel old at 62 when my first health issues appeared. In fact, I say I have been overhauled! I now carry cards for intraoptical lenses in my eyes after the cataract surgery. Now, even punctual plugs have just been inserted into both of my eyes to prevent the drainage of tears into the lacrimal canal, keeping the eyes moist for a longer time. This is an antidote to dry eyes caused by dry environment, age, or continued use of certain medication, all three present in my case. And my chronic hives, GERD, and hypothyroidism are being largely controlled. Our stay in Phoenix is proving very beneficial.  So nobody tell me I am beginning to look it! I certainly don’t feel it anymore with this resurgence brought about by pure plain passivity!

my street birthday party!

scotland's Guthrie Castle

I am now so excited about what I see for the second half of this decade and even beyond. I am poised to have my first book published next year! We also begin our European exploration and hopefully by the end of the decade begin other continents. And so another book may be in the offing! By then we will celebrate our 10^th wedding anniversary. Certainly, we would already have begun serious payback efforts, too. Finally, my youngest daughter is getting married at a Scottish castle in July 2014 and so I hope to play with my last grandkid(s) soon. I may even have a great grandchild as my first apo turns 22!

So who’s afraid of turning 65? Not me.  Come join my party! And right after my birthday is always Thanksgiving. Our block again had a street party. Carolyn and Mel grilled the turkey while we all brought our favorite side dishes!