December Madness- Christmas Shopping

I did Christmas shopping this year much more than I did in the past. It's ironic because some of the people I am close to back in the Philippines were worried of the economic situation in the US at present. But I somehow noticed that the stores have been panicking that people were not going to do a lot of shopping this year that they mark down their prices like crazy. That's really true at least with Old Navy and Victoria Secret. Even though we lost some money in some of our investments, we are so positive that the economy will get better. My husband has a really good understanding of the economy and he is not worried at all. And if we really think about it, we are still in good shape here in America because stores are dropping their prices to make people buy more. The gas price has been amazingly dropping from $4 a few months ago to $1.50 per liter! See, one should really study economics to understand what it means to be in economic crisis. One can't just say that we are heading toward economic depression without studying what it means. We are so far from that state. And with global economy, whatever is going on in the economy in the US affects the economies of other countries. It is so not right to say that we are heading toward depression! People are still eating and enjoying the luxury of having everything they need and want. But... I am still against the whole thing on the "bail out" issue! I'll talk more about it later. Anyway, I enjoyed shopping this month with my little girl. She has changed a lot. I know I had said in the past that she hated shopping. But somehow, she has learned to love it. Here are a few proofs... But yes, we shopped for only what were needed for Christmas and for our upcoming trip to the Philippines.

These photos were taken at Forever 21 store at MOA

December Madness-Izzy's Christmas cookies

Izzy and I were making cookies with our friends on the first Sunday of this month. It was our little girl's first cookie decorating experience. I really thought she would overdose herself with the sugar frosting but to my surprise, she wasn't really interested in eating the cookies. She was more excited in helping me and our friends make the dough and decorate the cookies with colorful frosting. I was so happy that I didn't have to worry that she had too much sugar in her system. I am also happy that she has learned that "too sweet" is bad for her. I was teaching her this phrase the past year. When she would ask me for sweet treats, I would give her a little bit and would always tell her that she couldn't have more than what I gave her because "too sweet" is bad! It worked. She has memorized this line and understand what it means.

December Madness-MOA

We had a chance to have two of Izzy's cutest cousins a few weeks ago. We brought them to the Mall of America for fun rides, food and a lot of walking. Before we went to the mall, we played a little Nintendo Wii and made cards for their mom and dad at our house. At the mall, we had them on several fun rides at the Nickelodeon Universe. They sure had a blast! We ended that exciting night with the Filipino fruit salad ice cream that P bought the week before we had them over. Both Justin and Payton loved the ice cream!

It's "shoe" time!

Happy to be with Dora and Boots!

Diego's Adventure bus (the favorite ride of the three! Paul's least fave)

Blue's Skidoo ride

Fun at the Carousel (Izzy's mommy's dizzy with this one!)

Pink Blue's Skidoo ride???

A visit to the Lego land!

Izzy and Payton collecting lego pieces.

Justin's wild ride experience... his first time on a bumper car.

December Madness-Cookie Exchange

Wow! It's been like forever since I last blogged this month. My sister has been complaining about having nothing new to read in my blog. Life, for us, has been abnormal this past couple weeks. Our house has been a mess from the ongoing tiling project on our hard floors. But life has gone on... happily, celebrating the Christmas season. Two weeks ago, I participated in a cookie exchange event with the ladies from our church. My entry were my famous Oatmeal-Raisin Vanishing Cookies. I made 10 dozen of them in exchange for 10 dozens of different cookies that the ladies made. It was so much fun to collect many different kinds of cookies! Too bad I was so busy that day that I didn't even remember taking pictures of them. They were so pretty and yummy! I gave a dozen of different kinds to each of our neighbors in our circle together with the chocolate fudge I made with my friend Tricia on the first Sunday of this month.

The week before the cookie exchange event, I couldn't use my kitchen because it was being tiled. So I had to make my cookies at my friend's house, our next door neighbor. It turned out to be a wonderful time to spend with my friend from Somalia. We both stayed up until midnight to finish making the cookies. We had great conversations that included subjects about Jesus, the Bible and her Koran. It's exciting to know that we both are now comfortable talking about our different faiths. I am so thrilled to think of our friendship that is obviously being blessed by the Lord!

A Weird Christmas Article

I've been receiving emails with Christmas messages. I am saddened that people would forward an email that has the subject, "Jesus is better than Santa". I think it is blasphemous. How could we even compare Jesus to Santa?!! How could we compare the King of kings and the Lord of lords to a dead man, claimed to be a saint? I just hope that this Christmas we will not be distracted by other things in an extremely commercialized holiday. Jesus is the reason for the season!

Scenic Sunday

The Sugar Loaf of Winona, Minnesota. It's not really a loaf of sugar on top of the bluff, its a piece of big stone. I can't remember why it's called Sugar Loaf. Sorry.

Busy Busy Morning

I woke up and found out that my voice has disappeared. I rehearsed my voice lessons saying, "la la la la la la..." But I couldn't hear myself. I am having a real sore throat and have been coughing. I stayed up late last night to cook the ham so Paul and his friend would have fresh ham for lunch today. I made their ham sandwiches and peanut butter-jelly sandwiches to take to work. Before I was done with the sandwiches, a good friend of mine came to ask me to help do her daughter's homework on the Philippines. It was kind of urgent so I had to stop working on the sandwiches to do the homework. I had to go up and down the stairs to print the little presentation on the Philippines that we created quickly. It was nice to have a jump start like that this morning. I need a lot of energy today because I am going to make a window cornice for Isabelle's room and a new purple fabric to go over the canopy of her bed. Hopefully, I'll do well in sewing. I am not into sewing a lot but I enjoy it when the project is for Izzy's room. But anyway, I feel so productive this morning. After I was done making the presentation on the Philippines, I got back to making sandwiches. That's about it for this morning. Good morning, people! Don't forget to smile today.