All I want for Christmas

It has been one busy holiday season in our home. Initially, I thought that I would have a relaxed Christmas eve since honey and I decided to accept the invitation of a good friend, Ate E, to spend Noche Buena with them together with rest of our friends from CFC. Then I thought wrong, I laboured the entire day making the fondant cake that I wanted to bring to the party. Oh well, it all turned out great so my efforts were not put to waste.


I made the fondant from scratch and moulded it to cover the cake. I also bought some snow man decors to top the cake with. Using my cookie cutters, I cut the fondant in heart and flower shapes to decorate the cake as well. I am so pleased with the outcome. It was so cute. I coloured the first tier of the cake (which is cappuccino flavoured cake) red and the top layer (chocolate cake) green, very Christmassy.


Oh and by the way, I was able to tick some items off my wish listand I’m waiting for the other items which are still in transit and hopefully, I’ll be able to tick the others as well. Thanks honey!

Angels in the tree

It never ceases to amaze me how a simple tree, when draped with sparkling lights, glittering balls and shiny ornaments, can transform a house into a home. One of the things that I look forward to the most during the holiday season is dressing up the tree. For me, there is a certain joy upon gazing at a freshly decorated tree in the corner of the living room.

Ever since we lived here in Amsterdam, I can’t help but notice that we have fewer options when it comes to ornaments that we can decorate the tree with. I have always liked putting a star or an angel atop the tree but truly, I have searched high and low but found nothing that I liked. For the last two Christmases, we decided to let the top of our Christmas tree remain bare instead of putting just anything there.

A week before Christmas though, I think our fate has finally changed. While strolling along the Christmas market, a glittery light from one of the stalls caught my eye. I immediately went and there it was, low and behold, beautiful angels lined in a row in different shades of gowns and various styles. A squeal of sheer excitement escaped my lips and honey had to rush to me to see what it was that I was so happy about. I pointed out to him the treasure that I was gazing at he understood immediately what I meant. There were so many designs that are so pretty and in the end I couldn’t decide between two angels so I asked honey just to pick and buy one. In the end, I saw honey handing two angels to the seller and paying for it telling me that it was so obvious that I liked both of them so he decided that we can always have more angels at home. So sweet my honey!



I have finally chosen the angel dressed in a green gown to occupy the top of our Christmas tree. I can’t be any happier with our angels. I just wanted one but now I have two.

From Dubai straight under the tree

When our friend S finally got his luggage, I was thrilled to receive these wonderfully wrapped gifts from Ate L, a very good friend of ours who resides in Dubai as well. The moment she heard that a friend will be visiting us for the holidays, she immediately grabbed something to send to us. Thanks for that Ate L. Your gifts are now sitting under our tree.

Our other loots from Dubai include this very chic bag from S’s girlfriend, a box of superb dates, boxes of ginseng coffee that Mama Lits endorses all the time, several ties, pants and polo shirts for honey from Mama Lits as well and my favorite of them all…. A great looking skirt and a very stylish blouse from Mama Lits. Its always a treat that my mom in law works for the fashion industry, she absolutely knows what kind of outfit would suit you best.

I’m so excited since these are the first surge of presents for honey and myself. Christmas is just around the corner. I really need to get cracking with wrapping the presents that we intend to give out as soon as I’m better from this cold, cough and flu.

Then comes Christmas

(photo from Flickr)

As everyone keeps on saying, it’s that time of the year. The breeze is getting colder, homes are prettifying their trees, everyone is wrapping presents, people crowd the shopping malls (or in our case shopping streets) to grab those items in their list. I really love this season, I just feel that this time of the year people are nicer, warmer, more patient with one another, more loving. It’s nice to see people go out of their normal, busy lives to think of little tokens and give to other people. Tis the season when I see a lot more people becoming more generous to others, sans whatever economic conditions there may be.

Twenty four days to go before Christmas and I’m really excited to spend this season with family and friends (although, I’ll miss most of my family who’s not here to spend Christmas with us). I'm so looking forward to the busy holiday season and let me be the first to greet you all. Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year!

Oh, BTW, I have never in my life created a wish list but this year, I have a couple of things in mind. I am wishing for a Canon EOS 450D, Kitchen Aid Mixer, a nice cake plate (you will be amazed at how difficult it is for me to find a decent cake plate, where I can serve the fruits on my labour on the dining table), Wilton’s 52 piece cake decorating set, WII Sport and DVD of great movies (like the entire collection of the James Bond films).

You can never say… a generous Santa might be around the corner waiting to make my wishes come true!

Can't hold it off any longer!

The moment I peeled off the August leaf from our calendar to show the month of September, Honey has already been bugging me to bring out our Christmas tree and to decorate our windows with the twinkly lights that he so loves. I had to hold it off as long as I can, I had to remind him that we’re not living in the Philippines where Christmas is a 4-month event. I was actually surprised that Honey gave in and I was able to hold off the Christmas decorations for almost 2 months.

Yesterday, though, after going to church, we passed by IKEA and they already have Christmas trees and decors on sale. The moment I saw their display, I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold it off much longer. True enough, honey bought several rounds of tinsel and some other Christmas décor and told me “we should really put our decors out, we’re already late!” haha. No, I couldn’t hold it off any longer.

So here he is again, our good old, cute, pink-cheeked, plump Santa Claus, out from his hiding place. The characters from the nativity scene that we will put on display are next in line to be taken from their slumber box and dusted off. The Christmas tree and lights will be put in its place hopefully by next week. Initially, I planned to put all the decors when I get back from my business trip to Singapore but as honey said, “we’re already late!” so I’ll start next week and do the finishing touches when I get back.


I am so excited to start decorating the house! This is actually one of my most favourite events during the holiday season. I love how the décors create an ambiance of warmth and coziness, it helps elevate the merriment and builds up the anticipation for the special days to come.

Have you started decorating your homes yet? Or have you done it several weeks ago?