Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the Father's in the world!

What I Like About...Being a Mother

It has been a while since I last made a post on this blog. I have been rather busy with some other things but that should not really be an excuse. If we want something, then we have to make time for it.

Ok, I'm really guilty of being remiss with my duty as a blogger. Mea culpa! Please forgive me. 

Anyway, what I am going to share today is something that I started a long time ago but never got around to finishing it. That long time ago was when I was still a young mother with 3 young children. Now, I am not that young anymore and all my children are already adults.

So what was it that I started a long time ago?

Well, I started writing about my experiences or adventures as a mother. I would jot down comments, conversations and moments shared with my kids. I thought I would share those comments, conversations and moments because being a mother is really so fascinating and rewarding.

I must confess that the demands of being a working mother never allowed me to put my work into any publishable form. However, I just chanced upon an old notebook where I used to keep some of my notes and it was fun and heartwarming to read some of my entries there. Hahaha, I'm going down memory lane - a sure sign of getting old? Who cares? I love being a mother!

So, what I like about ...being a mother is my post for today. I'm sure you mothers out there have had some kind of similar moment with your kids.

 The scene is after dinner and we were simply enjoying some small talk and dessert. My kids were about age 8,7 and 3 at that time. My kids suddenly turned to me and asked, "Mama, please sing for us."

Well, I can sing but I am no singer. I can carry a tune perfectly but I know my limitations. However, I never realized how much my kids appreciated my singing until that moment!

I  answered them, "I have a talent fee you know, I get paid before I sing". I said it as a joke but I soon realized that they took me seriously because of their next question.

"How much Mama?"

I answered (trying to keep a poker face), "Since you are my children, I will give you a discount. You can give me whatever you can afford". When I said that, they looked at each other and then left the dining table one by one. I thought that was the end of that. But then I got the surprise of my life.

After a few minutes, they came back each with his/her piggy banks, some more precious coins plus a few paper bills. They showed me their collection and seriously asked me... "Is this enough Mama?"

Wow! What would you do if you were in my place?

Here's what I did. I hid my face from them for a few minutes to pretend that I was preparing to sing. Actually, I tried to hide the tears from my eyes. I simply was so touched! Then I gave them not one song but an impromptu concert which they whole-heartedly applauded.

After the applause died down, I gave them back their money and covered their faces with kisses. I told them my singing will always be "gratis et amore" for them. Of course I had to explain what is "gratis et amore" but we just spent the next few minutes after that, hugging and kissing each other.

So that's why I love being a mother. Where and how else can you have moments like this if you are not a mom?

What I Like About...ChristmasTraditions

I love traditions and Christmas time is the best time for observing traditions. Traditions always bring happy memories and we never grow tired of them.

One of the Christmas tradition that I love is - caroling.

When I was in high school, we had a group that cut across the four year levels. Our group would always go caroling once advent starts. We would go around our small town and carol house to house. The money that we got from caroling was used to buy little gifts for children of underprivileged families in our town. We distributed these gifts during Christmas day.

I have written a longer article about caroling as a Christmas tradition. Please check this out.
Christmas-Tradition-Caroling-in-Small-Towns-and-Big-Cities

My daughter and her friends caroling at home

What I Like About ...Christmas

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. Everything about Christmas makes me feel warm and cozy and happy.
So below are some reasons why I love Christmas... or what I like about Christmas:

•  I love the spirit of giving
• the sounds of bells especially during early morning
• the sounds of Christmas carols
• the cool air and nippy weather
• the sparkling lights
• the decor
• the Christmas trees
• the food especially the baked goodies (I don't like fruitcake though, sorry!)
• the happy faces of everybody. Somehow everyone seems to be in a happy mood
• the colors 
• the tradition

Oh, I could go on and on about Christmas but you get what I mean. There is really something special about Christmas. So I thought I would write a series about Christmas.

I have just published an article about the Christmas colors. If you want to know how the Christmas colors originated, then please check out my article over at HubPages. Please click on the link below.
http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Colors-of-Christmas-Red-Green-and-Gold

What I Like About ... Frames

When you exhibit photos or art works what do you usually do? Frame them, right?
Frames always add something to the photo or the painting. Frames can be simple or can be ornate. Either way, they always add context and focus to any picture. However, the frames that I am talking about today are the frames that you create while you are still taking a picture. This is a photo tip that I learned early on when I started my photography adventure.

Adding a frame to a scene or object as you take the photo somehow creates a more focused and interesting picture. The frame can be natural or it can man-made. Do check out my hub on how frames add something to a photo.
http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Improve-your-Photography-Frame-It

Frame it!

What I Like About...Names

As I redesigned and organized this blog, I realized that I lack the letter "N" in my alphabetically-likes series. I wondered what happened to the "N" blog and then I remembered that I pulled it down because it contained so many personal details. I was warned by some friends not to put out on the web so many personal details.

So today, I decided to fill in the missing "N". I still am going to write about names, but this time, the names will be generic and not personal. I will write more about the reasons for giving the specific name.

Anyway, I find names fascinating because there is always a story behind the use of a certain name. Why were you given a specific name? I discovered several reasons. If the reason for your name is not in the following list, then please add it here. I would like to hear from you.

what is in a name?

Here are some reasons why you are given a certain name:

• Your name is based on the saint's feast day on the calendar. This is especially true those who are Roman Catholics. So for example if your birthday is today, you might have the name "Callistus" because it is St. Callistus' feast day today (Oct 14).
• Your name is based on the favorite actor or actress/author/singer/idol of your parents. So for example, you might be named Harry (Potter) or Charice (Pempengco) or Angelina (Jolie) or Oprah or John Lloyd (Cruz) or Rafael (Nadal).
• Your parents hope that you will turn out to be the next scientist or world leader or philosopher so you are given the name "Einstein" or "Indira" or "Corazon" or "Descartes"
• Your name is combination of your parents' or grandparents' names. So it might be "Jonel", a combination of John and Elizabeth, or "Jumila", combination of Justo and Milagros
• You are born on a specific day of the week or month of year, so your name is "May" or "Tuesday" or "January"
• You are born on a significant date or day, so your name is "Millenium" or "Ondoy" (typhoon here in the Philippines) or "Katrina" (hurricane in the USA)  
• You are the junior of your parents. So you are John, Jr., or Marian, Jr. I know of certain families who name their children as John, Jr, John II, John III, John IV, etc. 
• All the names in your family start with the letters of your parents names. All the boys follow the father's name or the girls the mother's or it can be the other way around. So if your parents names are Peter and Mary, then maybe your names are: Paul, Pedro, and Pistachio; or Martha, Maritess, and Marilyn; or Patricia, Peggy and Paula; or Mario, Maximo, and Medardo
• Your parents stayed in some foreign country or studied some foreign language and they fell in love with some of the foreign sounding names like: Keira (Irish), Mahinhin (Pilipino), Akiko (Japanese), Celio (Portugese)
• Your parents consulted numerology or horoscope so your name must exhibit a certain vibration or must sum up to a specific number, etc. So your name is "John Paul Castro" which comes up to the number 11. Number 11 is characterized by high spirituality, intuition, etc.
• Your parents were hoping for a baby girl or boy so they prepared only for girls' or boys' names. Then you turn out to be of the opposite sex (this was before the advent of ultrasound) and your parents did not bother to find another name but just changed the sex of the name. So your name was originally "Teresita" but you turn out to be a boy, so now you are named "Teresito"

These are just some of the reasons I gathered why you are given a specific name. If you know of other reasons, please add them here in the comments. Thank you!

I wrote a longer article about names. Check out this link.
What-is-In-a-Name-How-Did-You-Get-Your-Name