and a little child shall lead them...

merry (belated) christmas, everyone!

jesus' birthday was a good one! we headed over to my aunt's house in millbrae and had dinner as usual, followed by an early opening of the gifts. we usually try and wait until midnight, but for the past couple years since the twins have been born we've either just let them open their gifts first in front of everyone and then wait until midnight for everyone else, or just open them all early. thankfully, my lola was home from the hospital and was able to be amongst her family during this holiday. she's actually staying at my aunt's house for now and so her big hospital bed takes up half the living room! we totally had no space during the gift opening...it was craaazy! we also usually go around and allow each person to open ONE gift in front of everyone and show it off, but this year it was a free for all which made things waaaay chaotic. next year i'm voting for more organization and scheduling!!!

oh, then afterwards all the cousins played the Harry Potter, Scene It! game which was pretty fun. sidenote: i just found out that the director of the first two harry potter movies has a daughter that goes to my old high school!!! craaaazy, huh?! no wonder they were premiering the 4th movie for SI alums and students before the release date. and, after playing the game i realized that i'm not as much of a harry potter movie buff as i thought i was! they ask you all these specific questions like the names of spells and creatures...but it was really fun.

christmas day my family and i went to mass and then watched memoirs of a geisha. we arrived a little late (well, before the movie started but "late" if you wanted to get a good seat) so we had to sit way in the front, and by the end of the movie my neck was permantly holding my head up to face the sky. =/ i then realized that i am getting old. later that night we hung out with the cousins and went to see the decorated houses around our area, but it was raining so we had to stay in the car.

new year's should be interesting...my family and i are going to watch a football game new year's eve and then spend the countdown at my aunt's. a part of me wishes i could go out and get all craaazy (but, not too crazy, of course!) like most young adults my age, but i know my parents want me to stay home. i know this because they told me i can't go out. the joy's of living at home... =/. i've already been invited to two parties that are probably going to be really fun, but oh well. now that my lola is home it's probably better for all of us to spend the special holiday's with her.

by the way, thanks to everyone who has been praying for her and my fam. the prayers definitely worked, and my lola is definitely on the road to recovery!

the boys just could not stop eating!!!

lola, my mom, bailey, and mama

janette (bro's gf), chris, daddy, papa, nathalie, mommy, and me

the cousins (minus quite a few...)

evan opened ONE present and liked it so much he forgot about the rest, haha!

presents...

presents...

and more presents...

i wonder if my lola liked this present?!

raindrops keep falling on my head...

today was my first official day of vacation and i must say that there was a tremendous lack of excitement, save for one moment of the day i will talk about later. i woke up around 10am and dropped the sis off at work, got home and started to read a new book i picked up at b&n: Light on Snow, by Anita Shreve. it's been pretty decent so far...i'm enjoying it. i am so desperately wanting to read the last and final harry potter book, but it looks like we're gonna have to wait a while for that one. you know, not many people know this about me, but if i wasn't gonna be a teacher (or an actress/dancer...=D) i think i'd be a writer. maybe someday...


after reading, i played a little su doku (yes, francia, su doku. surprisingly, it's fun!), cleaned up my room a bit, saw my spiritual director, and pretty much did nothing else the entire day. i love days off!!!

a catechetical moment...

i used to think that it was waaaay embarassing when your umbrella turned inside out on a wet & rainy day. think about it: raindrops are falling down really hard and fast because the wind is blowing every which way and all of a sudden the umbrella you're holding tightly is suddenly flipped upwards and out of control. you desperately fumble to get it flipped back down, all the while struggling with the wind and the rain that is now falling on your head. when you do finally get it situated it's too late because you're already wet and there's really no point for the umbrella anymore. embarassing, i tell you.

then today i was driving home on 19th and i saw a little girl walking alongside her mom. she was holding an umbrella, and right as i glanced over in her direction her tiny purple umbrella was flipped up by the wind. did the little girl feel any embarassment or frustration at all? instead of trying to fix it the girl simply pointed at the umbrella and started laughing, staring in wonder and excitement at her gravity-defying umbrella, no longer able to serve its true purpose.

she taught me a lesson. no wonder He asks us to become child-like...

BFF!

this picture was taken during one of my friend's bday's last month. we just got done doing our "best friends forever" cheer, and the guys thought it was so hilarious/dumb that they wanted a pic of us doing it. we're losers.

that was the night i dragged my heels through half an inch of bathroom flooded water just so my friend could go pee. the things you'll do for your friends...

ahh...the holiday's are surely upon us! :)


so, tomorrow is my last day of work until school resumes in january and i can honestly say that i'm going to miss work! i've been enjoying my days working at school amongst the kiddos, though some days are better than others. i can't wait till i become a real teacher! i used to think that i would just stay within the primary grades, but after being with 5th grade for these past few months i've found that i enjoy teaching older kids as well. they're waaaay more independent and you can do lots more with older kids like group projects and stuff. plus, some of the conversations i've had with these 10 year olds are quite interesting! tomorrow i'm also going to attend the faculty christmas luncheon...that should be exciting.

i'm also really grateful that i'm working in a catholic school. just last week they put on a christmas concert and it was so wonderful! they sang songs and had students act as the holy family and everything. i wonder if these kids realize how beautiful they looked.


my blogs are boring. sometimes i don't realize how boring my life is until i sit down to write my blogs.


david left for socal this afternoon...please pray for his safe trip down! it's been storming up here but at least it let up a little today.

off to brave the malls...

may God have mercy on his soul...

O CHRISTmas TREE...

the before shots...

my sister, the tree lover. and my brother doing the zoolander pose.

doesn't he look like a lumberjack?

"excuse me, do you work here?"

o the joy's of CHRISTmas!

my brother, sister, and I went shopping for a tree today...we actually did it! we always make plans to buy one early and then don't end up getting one 'till the week of, but this year we were on top of things!!! so, first me and my sister went into target to get some new ornaments -- we decided on a gold, silver, & white theme this year! while me and my sister were at target my bro was outside in the parking lot looking for trees. he told us afterwards that some lady walked up to him and asked him if he worked there. i don't blame the lady for thinking that...my brother was wearing a mustard colored sweater to match his mustard colored Timberland BOOTS, jean shorts, and a black beanie. not to mention he's like, hella big. he really looked like all the workers there...haha! so we didn't like any of the trees outside target so we went to one other tree place not far from where we were. after arguing about whether or not we should get an 8 ft. tree as opposed to a 6 ft. tree (when our ceiling barely reaches 6 ft...) we came across one that we all liked, miraculously! this was our conversation on the way home:

me: so, what are we gonna name our tree?
chris: um, i dunno...gabriella.
me: seriously?
chris: hm, i dunno...don't think i'll be talking to the tree anytime soon.
me: turn off the radio so we could hear if the tree falls off.
chris: if the tree started to fall, i don't think there would be much we could do to stop it.
me: wouldn't it suck if the tree fell off?
chris: naw, it would suck if the tree feel off and someone ran over it.
nathalie: what if the tree fell off and like, hit someone's windshield...that would suck.
me: dude, it would suck if the tree feel off and hit someone's windshield and it cracked.
nathalie: didn't i just say that?
chris: yes, you did.

laughter all around.

me: no, it would hella suck if the tree fell off, hit someone's windshield and killed them. do you think we'd be charged for murder?
nathalie: no, it would just be a natural disaster.
me: as opposed to an accident?

oh man...it may not seem funny to anyone else but i'm hella laughing right now! ah...good times. you never know what kind of conversation will spring up when buying a Christmas tree!

and now...

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other." - Burton Hillis

i can't wait...

the warmth of winter

i thought i had time before going to bed to give quick update on the life of dee, but if i did update i think i may just type forever! i know, i really need to start updating more because i always have so much to say at the end of the day, but sometimes there just isn't enough time!

needless to say, my mini-vacay to socal was just what i needed at this time in my life. talk about a spiritual rejuvination!!! some day i will gather up enough courage to speak on what i felt throughout that first night i was there...and throughout the rest of the weekend, really...but it is not yet that day. but, what i will say is that i'm upset that i left my NEW coffee tumbler thingee there!!! i was soooo super excited to use it, too! grrr...that's what i get for not putting it in my suitcase right away. oh well, i suppose i will just have to make another trip down to pick it up! ;)

in the teaching sector, things have been going quite well. school has been killing me but it's almost over, praise GOD! i have never been so against group projects before, but after having a few bad experiences i HATE group projects! i had some really bad luck with the grouping situation, but at least we got graded individually. oh well, what can you do. i think that God's trying to teach me how to work with difficult people...you would think that leading liwanag would have taught me that! HAHAHAH....JUST KIDDING!!! but not really...

i've been getting along pretty well with the teacher i work with, too. before it was awkward between us for some reason and she was a bit stand-offish, but we're actually getting to know each other better nowadays and she's actually making me more a part of the class! i'm starting to get a handle on the 5th grade curriculum, but boy do i have some funny stories about that! one time i didn't know the answer to this one word problem, and i just KNEW one of the kids was going to ask me for help, so i courageously called the teacher over and made a joke out of needing her to tutor ME. she took one look at it, paused for a moment, and then called out "boys and girls let's cross out #35...you don't have to do that one. if you want to do it, it'll be extra credit." yes, i did graduate college.

on the downside of the teaching sector, i had to report another teacher i was working with at another school. what's worse is that i don't think anything is going to be done about it...

...and people wonder why some kids hate school.

in the family sector, things are as good as can be expected. lola is in the hospital again because she's not eating. it's taking a toll on my family, but i know we're all trying to hang in there, especially my mom. it's so stressful, but this is the cross...

we're getting a tree tomorrow, which will be very interesting. after we put it up there'll be barely enough room walk around...but, by golly, we'll have tree! i was complaining about the cold weather earlier this month, but the more i'm in it the more i'm thankful for it because it really feels like christmas is coming. and, i don't know how factual this would be but i would like to think that it was cold when Jesus was born. i mean, in a stable with no heat, in the dead of night...it wasn't the warmest of situations. but i would bet anything that the beauty that was born on that cold night was enough to warm heaven and earth...