Essential Christmas Message in Rembrandt’s Nativity Scene of Peace


In Rembrandt’s portrayal of the nativity scene, the attention was entirely focused on the Babe in the manger. He did this by painting a shaft of light so that it falls exclusively on the Christ-child. Although he included other figures, they are shrouded in shadows. Rembrandt wanted nothing to detract from the significance of that Baby—who was God in the flesh. The painter wanted Christ to be the sole object of adoration.

Christmas Choices: Not Everyone is Excited About Christmas



The glitter of bright and colorful decorations, the sounds of joyous Christmas carols, the happy children, and the cheerful greetings of “Merry Christmas!” may give the impression that everybody is glad that Jesus came to our planet. But reality is, that isn’t true, and it never was.

Christmas Decor and Safety Concerns during the Holidays



Here are basic tips on how to keep your home and your loved ones safe during the holiday season.

Holiday Cherry Cheesecake



A sumptuous and enticing cheesecake perfect for the holidays.

See recipe here: Holiday Cherry Cheesecake

My Most Unforgettable Christmas Songs


Why some Christmas songs are more special to me than others, let me tell you the Reason. As the Christmas season approaches, more and more Christmas and holiday tunes are resounding wherever we go. It reminds us that we need to finish our shopping list, too.Numerous songs have been written for and about this glorious season of the year, but I have kept a steady list of my favorites. Most of which are classics and in the minor key. I have ten of my most loved Christmas songs. I know, I know... Christmas is a joyous occasion, to some it's all about tradition, pretty decor, happy gatherings, festivities, the pomp, the show, and some do celebrate of the Messiah's birth. I personally prefer the contemplative peaceful side of the Christmas mood.

Christmas Carols and the Victorian Era


On the first Chirstmas Eve, nearly two thousand years ago, the hills around Bethlehem echoed with song. Sleepy shepherds learned of Jesus' birth from angels singing praises to God and journeyed, amazed, to visit the infant in the manger. As they walked back to their flocks the shepherds, too, sang songs of rejoicing.
The Victorians loved music so it is no surprise that they revived the old medieval carols and also composed new ones, both secular and religious.

The Nostalgia of Victorian-Inspired Christmas Cards

Victorian art is synonymous to opulence, timeless beauty and nostalgia. Its style holds a timeless charm especially when used in items pertaining to the Christmas celebration.
All the more, if these cards were given personally to someone special, I believe it could still release in the magic of Christmas even at this modern age, even in the most "Scroogiest" personalities.

Practical Guidelines on Gift Giving

Christmas is indeed one of the busiest, if not the busiest, season of the year. It pays to plan ahead in order to avoid the burned-out feeling of the Christmas paranoia. Due to this, sometimes we tend to forget to enjoy the reason for the celebration. Here are three basic rules you may apply in your gift giving practices.

Getting More Out of Christmas

Christmas can be a perfect time when less can be more.
A few days before Christmas, some of us will still do the last minute Christmas shopping. Many are weary of shopping because the store merchants began urging us to start buying our gifts and treats long before Thanksgiving. Some purposely wait up to the last minute in the hopes of getting in on some sales.

The Schizophrenic Holiday Called Christmas

Christmas may carry Christ’s name but someone else gets most of the attention.

Don’t misunderstand. I’m no Scrooge dedicated to banishing innocent make-believe. On balance, Santa Claus has probably made the world a happier place for thousands. But it seems significant that we have invented a fantasy-figure for our children and ourselves that resembles the Savior so closely.

Full Article: The Schizophrenic Holiday Called Christmas

Homemade Dips And Spreads As Christmas Gifts


Make up a basket of treats for a friend, neighbor, or a loved on with choice dips and spreads as gifts.

Christmas Cookie Bonanza



Seven different cookies all from one basic recipe!

1 cup sugar

1 cup margarine or butter, softened

2 eggs

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

3 cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda


SEE RECIPE HERE: Christmas Cookie Bonanza

Homemade Relishes for the Festive Holidays

Enhance any holiday table with one of these flavorful relishes. Label your gift jars and add a pretty holiday greeting sticker.

Marinated Olives
Mexican Relish
Cranberry Orange Relish
Mushroom Relish
Peppery Relish

See recipes here: Homemade Relishes for the Festive Holidays

The Inspiring Story Behind the Song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

As the holiday of 1938 came to Chicago, Bob May, 34-year old ad writer for Montgomery Ward, a father of a four-year old girl, was exhausted, broke, and about to lose his wife to cancer.

One night, Barbara, his daughter aked him, “Why isn’t mommy like everybody else’s mommy?” As he struggled to answer his daughter’s question, Bob remembered the pain of his own childhood. A small, sickly boy, he was constantly picked on and called names. So he began to spin a tale about a reindeer with a bright red nose who found a special place on Santa’s team.

Read the rest of the story here: The Inspiring Story Behind the Song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Yule Log Cake Recipe



Here’s a special cake you may serve as a centerpiece for Christmas dinner. This would also make a perfect gift for family and friends.

See the recipe here: Yule Log Cake Recipe

The Messiah: Handel’s Musical Legacy

image source

The most remembered work of Handel is his oratorio Messiah – the single work that made him a household name. Paul Henry Lang, in his exhaustive study of the composer writes, “Messiah is perhaps the only major work about which public sentiment is unanimous. Its freshness, its warmth, its beautifully rounded forms and sculptured melodies offer universal experience to men of all walks of life and all shades of faith.

Read the whole article here: The Messiah: Handel’s Musical Legacy

The Nutcracker Suite: A Memorable Christmas Ballet



One of the landmarks in ballet history was Pyotor Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s creation of the Nutcracker Suite. With Swan Lake (1876) and The Sleeping Beauty(1879) behind him, he was commissioned by the director of St. Petersburg’s Imperial Theater to write a new ballet to a book by Marius Petipa, who completely outlined the moods and dances the musical score was to fit. The first night was not as triumphant as that ofSleeping Beauty’s. It was confusing for the Russian audiences of that day to see a performance dominated by children in the first act, and they did not exactly favor the German story on which it was based either. Today, however, there is hardly a major world dance company or regional ballet that does not mount an elaborate Christmastime production of The Nutcracker.

Homemade Giftable Mix Recipes


Imaginative and different, these recipes are sure to please as gifts. Be certain to label each bottle or jar and give directions on how to use the mix.

See recipes here: Homemade Giftable Mix Recipes

Homemade Gifts for People Who Love Sweets: Dessert Toppings



What lovelier gift for that someone with a sweet tooth, than a trio of delectable dessert toppings!

See recipes here: Homemade Gifts for People Who Love Sweets: Dessert Toppings

Your Christmas Gifts Reveal Something About You

The nearer Christmas gets, the more frantic we become, until finally we rush out to buy something—anything. We’re bothered about these choices because we want the receiver to like his or her gift because we fear people’s opinion of us, based on our gift.
You can carefully choose the gifts and you don’t have to buy them in bulk. You can buy gifts in a series of shopping trips. But no matter how early one plans the gifts to give, it is quite realistic to say that no Christmas ever dawns that doesn’t bring its own disappointments, regrets, and plain old sulking...



Read whole article here: Your Christmas Gifts Reveal Something About You

The Lost Art of Thankfulness

An accurate definition of ingratitude, though not the one usually found in dictionaries might be worded like this:

“Ingratitude is the attitude of the person who receives every good and perfect gift without so much as an appreciative nod in the direction of the donor, be he human or divine.”

There is no creature so ungrateful as a human being. Even animals will seldom bite the hand that gives him bread. Not so with man. ...READ MORE>>>

Salmonella Bacteria in Turkey Stuffing



Each holiday season, between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, there are cases of severe illness due to food poisoning caused by improper handling of turkey stuffing. The salmonella bacteria are the culprits. They like to lurk in the middle of incompletely cooked poultry, right where you put the stuffing...READ MORE>>>

Sausage-Stuffing Recipe for Turkey



Some say that the best part of the turkey the stuffing. Here is a recipe that is practically a meal in itself.
The stuffing recipe should be the right size to stuff a 16- to 20-pound turkey....
SEE RECIPE HERE>>>

How to Roast a Turkey and Other Poultry The Fastest Way

The ritual of cooking turkey used to be a painful and an elaborate process, taking long hours of watching the clock and basting the bird, hoping that with luck, the dinner will not turn out tough and dry.

There is, however, another way to roasting that can give you perfect results in the form of a juicy and tender turkey, taking much less time to cook than our grandmothers took. The same technique can also be applied to roasting chicken,duck, goose, pheasant, or any kind of poultry.

This method is also used in fine restaurants and hotel kitchens where they cannot afford to take as much time as our ancestors did in roasting turkey.

READ MORE>>>

See What Gratitude Can Do for You


Sometimes we think that life should be easier. After all, it looks easy for others. Comparing ourselves or our circumstances can be a dangerous dalliance, especially if we compare with a purpose in mind—either to make ourselves look better or worse than those around us.
“Life is too important to be easy.” You can’t maintain a constant state of happiness—nobody can...READ MORE>>>

Lessons From Darkness



Darkness in life is like a cocoon to a butterfly. As nature has its painful way of strengthening or developing a butterfly in order to prepare it for the life outside, we as persons gain strength when we struggle through the darkness of a life crisis. Dark times often become our ‘cocoon’ which God uses to strengthen us.

read more on Lessons from Darkness

Thanks for the Music, Daddy

My father, just like most of the Filipino dads in the modern age, was a weekend father. He was the typical corporate person who would leave early in the morning and come home at night. Typical you may say. Generally, indeed, the situation is. But the details of his character are the ones that made the greatest influence on what I became today. The moments he spent with us after work and during weekends left a legacy.


From him I learned to love literature, writing, and poetry. He introduced me to the Bible, to Edgar Allan Poe, the Reader’s Digest and even to MAD magazine. He may look strict but he is a man who loves humor. Puns and satire are part of our regular conversations. When he proofreads my written term papers and written works, I remember him saying “before you print your work, make sure you show it to me, so we could laugh at it first, then we do the corrections.” It taught us to accept criticisms in a light-hearted manner.


Though he is a man of few words, he was always appointed as leader in church, in school PTA, in our Village Association, and led the groups with integrity and discipline. He is a man known for his no-nonsense talk and intellect. When he talks everyone listens.


He taught us creativity, resourcefulness and frugality. I needed a jump rope once in grade school. Unfortunately, we lived far from the department stores then and it was already late night when he arrived from work. He got a few pieces of electric wires, 2 pvc pipes, and a few minutes later, I had a jump rope ready to be used for my PE the next day.


He is my biggest influence in my love for music. Because of his broad range of musical taste, I was exposed to classical, sacred, gospel, opera, broadway, jazz, and latin through his LP records that he plays during weekends. One of my most unforgettable dad-and-daughter moment in my life happened when I was 7 years old. I never realized how important that was until 30 years later. When my teacher made me compete in a singing contest, it was dad who taught me the lyrics and melody of ABBA’s Thank You For the Music. He coached me every night until I got it right. He was so patient even though I did not know what I was singing. He believed in me, and trusted I would do it, but my first solo public performance was a flop. Out of stage fright, I forgot my song. I did not quit on music, though. Eventually, years later, I became a musician. This experience was the pivotal point in my life. And I thank dad for what I have become now. I may not have sung the song that time, but I lived its message of music throughout my life. For that, I am forever grateful to my dad.


His greatest and most important influence on us is his example of faith in God. Life may not have been easy most of the time. We even spent some birthdays without cakes and balloons, but never a day or a celebration without prayer. He taught us not to trust solely on our abilities and intellect but to rely on God in everything.


Many would see him as a strict, formal, corporate-type person, but I see him more as an educator and an artist, a family man, but above all, my father is God’s faithful servant. He is not perfect just like everyone else, but as a dad, as mom’s faithful husband, and as a grandfather, he’s just the right one for our family. I love him and am thankful that he is my dad.


Here's a memorable song for you, dad. Happy Father's Day.






POSTER GALLERY FOR FATHERS





Marching to the Beat of My Mother's Heart - My Mother's Day Tribute

We are all our mother's children. While it is true that we have ceased being children, our mothers, especially mine, have not ceased being a mom. Now, that I am a mother myself, I understand and appreciate all the more, the value of motherhood, of discipline, the priceless value of frugality, and patience.

Introspectively surprised, I see myself more as "a brick off the wall." Strange parallelisms are quite obvious now. Unconsciously, I am becoming more like her, the difference is that, she has a kinder heart. I remember as a kid, during the summer season, she would organize Vacation Bible School in our house back in Las Pinas. The house would be filled with children from different age groups. As a young girl, honestly, I never genuinely intended to work with children. Nowadays, our house is a place for children the whole year round. She would prepare snacks for the kids attending VBS back then, I on the other hand prepare snacks and meals during rehearsals, and occasionally during some impromptu gatherings of Clavier Piano School. She loved organizing events in the neighborhood which would require me and my brother to be there to participate, though reluctantly. Truth is, I did not quite understand nor appreciate why she has to organize those activities, but the need was there. Now, I regularly need to organize two piano recitals every year with only three members of the production team... and I thought my mom was a slave driver. LOL

Her love for managing people helped establish her career in managing a chain of department stores, but she eventually chose to be a full-time mother and housewife. It did not stop her from being enterprising, by establishing her business at home. Her patience with people is anything beyond my ability to comprehend. She would most of the time, follow her heart; she would know those who are truly in need and would see the potential in people whom she would give chances to. Her intuition is, short of saying, almost prophetic. I am still far from becoming that-- but I do see the potential in students whom I push and give chances to, I guess that qualifies as similarity.

Mom is not perfect, just like any other human being. We had to deal with her swinging moods like that of a primadonna at times. Her anger coud explode like that of the Pinatubo, as my dad would call it, but it would only be for that moment. She never holds a grudge, she would be frank to speak her mind, but that's it. You would be drinking coffee and laughing again in a little while.

Now that she's in another continent, it does not stop her from being a supportive mother. She would keep in touch to see if everything is OK, she forced herself to learn the internet and computer technology for this purpose. She knows if I'm in emotional (or financial) distress without me saying so. In her weakening body due to a rare condition, she remains to be a woman of strength in many other ways.

I was always been said to be my Dad's junior. In my stern social and communication skills, I believe so. But in matters of the heart, intuition, parenting, and ways of planning my life, I am my Mother's daughter.

She has driven me to become what I am now, and I am very thankful for what she has done. My ultimate goal is to become a full-time mom. I am blessed with a kind of job that enables me to be with my children, but hopefully, in the near future, I would be retiring, and devote more time to enjoy life with them, just like my mom.

For this occasion, I made a gallery of posters with quotes for mothers HERE .

Happy Mother's Day to all moms! I love you, mommy.


TRIBUTE GALLERY TO ALL MOTHERS

For all the mothers and mothers to be in the world, most especially to my mom, here is a gallery of posters and quotes, I made just for you. Kindly click on the photo to view a larger image. I hope you like it.
Happy mother's day!




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