A Christmas City with Meaning (My Christmas Blog)

Christmas is the most awaited season of the year. This is also one of the most happiest events to cap off the year. BUT before everything else, I hope we can all have a reality check to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Most often than not, families and friends gather together to celebrate and the festive mood is heightened. It's not all about eating and eating and drinking and drinking. The gatherings purpose is to bring people closer to bond.

We have a yearly tradition at home. I just want to share a bit of our Christmas story. We have a collection of miniature houses that we setup every year. This is part of our Christmas bonding experience.

What I want to say here is that, those miniature figures not only are good to look at but, they also give us lessons.

Please be reminded that Santa Claus is a legendary figure. Legend is defined as "An unverified story handed down from earlier times, especially one popularly believed to be historical." Whereas the true meaning of Christmas has Jesus in the center of it.

Jesus Christ wasn't born on December 25. That date is just used to commemorate the birth of Christ.

This is also the season to "develop" the habit of giving and sharing.

As a new year approaches, let us leave our selfish ways behind.

Again, do bond with your family. Take the initiative! Go the extra mile to be with them. Please do not exchange your time with your family with your work or job.

Let us act like humans with logical thinking. Be quick to forgive and slow to anger. Peace on earth starts with you (us).

Lastly, we aren't barred to enjoy this season. This is just a small reminder that we celebrate Christmas because of Jesus (Christmas is soo commercialized these days.).

"Life is a gift from God BUT how we live it is our gift to Him."

Christmas Wish List 2009

I made this entry to join NomNomClub's Contest (You can join too!)
I actually enjoyed making this wish list post :)

Christmas is just around the corner and in this season of festive giving and sharing, NomNomClub is giving away his Starbucks USB thumbdrive just by making a wish list consisting of 5 items!

Listed below are rather my "wish" list so this just means that either it can't be bought or that I do not want to buy them (stingy me).

1. Tokina 11-16mm F2.8 (Nikon Mount)


Almost everyone knows how I love photography (now you know). It might be a fad, yes, but, I honestly do LOVE taking photos eversince. My dad gave me my first-ever SLR which was a Nikon D90 equipped with a good lens (18-105mm). This is also the reason why I can't buy any other lenses because it was already good. This is ALSO the reason why this lens is in my wish list. I want it, but I don't want to buy it. So, this will just stay in my wish list. Literally wishing for it. Dreams do come true, you know.

2. More Businesses and Investment Opportunities


There is only 1 thing that drives me on making my businesses. This is to help other people earn a living. By having more businesses, I can help more people. May God help me achieve this in a country where government officials are known to be so corrupt and selfish.

3. More Projects


I want to take this opportunity to thank God for a very wonderful year of loaded work and projects. And my 2nd wish for this Christmas are again, tons and loads of projects for the upcoming year. Of course, I prayed about this first and I am just writing it down here as my 2nd wish.

4. Health

Health = Wealth. Health is something that not even the richest person in the world can buy. They can only use their money so far. Money isn't everything. When you think about it, money is just a piece of paper made by humans as a medium of exchange.

5. A little more peace

This is not the Miss Universe Q&A portion. Well, I am just being realistic here. You cannot ask for world peace because that won't happen unless God will rule over ALL mankind (In their hearts). So, I am asking for even just a little more peace in this world. Start with 1 person at a time. Let it start with us.

NomNomClub.com

5 Tried and Tested Ideas for your baby's bedtime routine

Whoever invented the idiom “sleeping like a baby” has obviously never had to deal with baby bedtime. Think about it --- does your baby sleep well at night? Is it ever an ordeal JUST getting baby to sleep, and does the baby wake up very early, also waking the parent in the process?

Image from Christmas Lullabies

Assuming you’re following a bedtime routine, are you sure you’re getting the most out of it? Here are a couple of ideas to ensure that you do:

Pre-set Bedtime – Find the best time for your baby to sleep. It’s always better for a baby to sleep AND wake early than having the baby sleep late and wake up fatigued and agitated. Most baby bedtimes are usually around 7-8 at night.

Dinner 2 Hours Before Bedtime – Make sure that you set baby’s dinner time 2 hours before bedtime. This leaves ample time for a full bedtime routine, and also leaves the baby not-too-full that he finds difficulty sleeping.

Comfortable Clothing – So you followed the steps to the letter, but the baby still isn’t getting the best sleep at night --- it could be clothing. A baby’s skin is much, much more sensitive than an adult’s --- the slightest discomfort could irritate the baby, causing lack of sleep. This also involves the blankets and the sheets.

Planned Activities During The Day – A baby can be so full of energy, so make sure that he follows a schedule on a daily basis for him to get adequate exercise and that he feels the need for sleep during the night.

Consistency – Finally, if you find the perfect combination for a bedtime routine, get the baby used to the idea that 6-7-8 pm is time when the bedtime routine begins, so he can get the queue and fall asleep on the right time.

Follow these ideas and you might just get the most out of your baby bedtime routine. Find more ideas for bedtime routines on Baby Bedtime Center.

YugaTech Contest #1: Merry Tweetmas

Starting today, YugaTech will be hosting contests sponsored by Globe called "YugaTech Great Gadget Giveaway!"

For this week, they called it, "Merry Tweetmas".

There are 3 ways to join the said exciting contest ;)


I, Twitter

1) Follow @abeolandres and @talk2globe on Twitter.

2) Post a tweet “Just entered to win a Modu Phone. Quick! Go follow @abeolandres and @talk2globe and retweet: http://bit.ly/6e2q7O #thanks2yugatech”

Prizes: 1 Modu phone, 10 Globe Tattoo and 20 Php500 prepaid call cards randomly. That’s 31 winners in all for the Twitter giveaway.

II, Blog

1) Blog about the “YugaTech Great Gadget Giveaway”. Include the photo YugaTech posted and link to his contest page.

2) Don’t forget to include in your post the mechanics for the Twitter contest above.

3) Leave a comment in YugaTech's blog with the URL of your entry.

Prizes: 1 Modu phone, 10 Globe Tattoo and 10 prepaid load cards worth Php500 each. That’s 21 additional winners for a total of 52 winners this week.

III, Comment in YugaTech's Merry Tweetmas post

1) Leave a comment on his contest page with the answer to this question — “If you’re stuck in an island with a phone and only have one call left, who would you call and why?“.

Prizes: Ten most witty or creative answers will each win Php500 worth of prepaid load cards from Globe.

For a total of a whopping 62 prizes just for this week!!! You can join in all 3 but in the event that you or I win in all 3, I would only get the highest valued prize.

According to Abe, this is just the warm up for a more grander prize!

Thanks to Globe for sponsoring Abe's (YugaTech) contest!