…and the countdown goes this way:

9 gifts given out
8 Christmas cards mailed via good ol’ post office
3 Christmas parties attended
2 Christmas cards received (thanks Tonigrrrl)
0 e-cards (hurrah!)
5 times i ransacked my bank account for shopping money
1 time i used my credit card (good job!)
4 Christmas gifts i wrapped last night
12 times i looked at cookbooks in panic over Christmas menu
12 times i received Christmas gifts the past week, including
1 set kitchen canister
1 box apples
1 box ham
1 box canned goods gift pack good for sending to Iraq
1 box chunky brownies
1 chunky bracelet
1 chunky watch
3 times i thought, “why are they giving me all these chunky things? i hate chunky”
1 bottle perfume
1 scented candle
2 bottles red wine
0 person to share it with
5 days to go before Christmas
10 days to go before Pinoyblog grand EB

A mother’s worst nightmare happened to me yesterday. I lost Dionne while we were shopping in the supermarket. She and Paolo went off to the noodles section on their own while I was stupidly examining the label on an eye cream.

Of course I was imagining that my daughter had been snatched and because she was darn pretty, anybody can put her up for adoption. What more, Dianne seemed worried about her “missing” twin sister. After ten minutes of my panic attack, the intercom blared:

Paging the mother of a four-year old girl wearing pink jeans and pink sandals, please proceed to the customer service counter now.

My kids are getting to be more and more independent and I am not bringing them in droves to the supermarket/ shopping mall/ bazaar again.

There is something about the Manila Christmas this year which is a bit more somber than the previous years. Just the same, we have to get on with the business of buying Christmas presents because it’s called for by tradition. Maybe it’s the economic situation but the department stores don’t seem so crowded and the traffic is not as bad. All I know is that I am almost through with my Christmas shopping list but somehow it gets longer because there is always someone I forgot to include on the list. I also attended my first two Christmas parties last week and they were all Chinese lauriats (so much about shedding those unwanted pounds!) For some people, Christmas can be the loneliest time of the year (not to mention the most pressure-filled) but what’s good about it also is all the food, booze and getting together with family and friends. This is also one season when we forget about ourselves and take pleasure in giving more than receiving.

Christmas Stollen
Originally uploaded by annalyn.

We will be featuring this delish dessert in our company newsletter and so yesterday had me hunched in the spic-and-span kitchen of a five-star hotel to attend a food demo on how to make Christmas Stollen.

A stollen is a treasured Christmas delicacy which originated in Dresden, Germany. It is a specialty bread filled with candied fruits, raisins,almonds and irresistible spices. It is quite laborious to make but once it’s baked, it smells so heavenly and tastes just as sweet. I had a bite once it got out of the oven and boy, was it fabulous! However,the chef was quick to discourage me and said that my stollen is better eaten after one week. You man to say it gets better than this?

Roast Turkey
Originally uploaded by annalyn.

My Favorite Chef also laid out the biggest golden-roasted turkey I have ever seen, complete with cranberry sauce, stuffing and vegetable sidings.Who says turkeys are only for Thanksgiving? Honestly, am not a turkey lover but this picture sure made me crave for a bite or two. Hmm..yummy!

000_0052
Originally uploaded by annalyn.

So this is the picture of my humble abode when we had just started laying out the Xmas decorations on the first week of December. So far I have done a good job of hiding the gifts from the kiddies (or it will not see the light of Christmas day) and have promised to fill their stockings starting on the 16th.The house is fullof Christmas accents and I feel I have overdone the decor.But with the kids around, it’s better to feel the Christmas spirit than to be a Christmas scrooge, don’t you think?

I am not really fond of making Christmas wish lists but I just figured out that I would like to receive this year books of any kind, specifically foreign cookbooks (I have almost all of the local ones); cookware, especially a non-stick pan; baking gadgets; make-up for looking good; a good-looking notebook; an i-pod; an XDA II; a new oven toaster; a round-trip ticket to Bali and would you believe, a microwave oven?

Things I dread receiving this year: coffee mugs (and more mugs); trinkets, knick-knacks and bric-a-bracs ( I have enough clutter as it is) ; e-cards (make it a snail-mail Xmas card), loose t-shirts ..ad infinitum.

What is the Mooncake Festival and why are the Chinese crazy about them at this time of the year?

According to tradition, the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar is the time when the moon is said to be at its fullest, brightest and nearest to the earth. As such, it is a good excuse for all Chinese families to get together and celebrate the occasion.

I didn’t know about this until my Rotarian buddies told me we had to attend a Mooncake Party as we were co-hosts of the event. “Come one, come all! Dinner’s for free with prizes galore,” enticed our club president.

And so last Monday, we trooped to the swanky Chinese Palace resto of the Pan-Pacific Manila with what looked like three-fourths of Manila’s Fil-Chinese community in attendance. The waiters were busily strolling back and forth serving our delectable lauriat meal which had the usual assorted cold cuts, long-life noodles and my favorite salt and pepper spare ribs.

The highlight of the evening was the Mooncake Game which had 20 of us in a group facing a round table. Each of us had the chance to throw six dices and it was a prerequisite to get at least one dice with a score of four. Four or five dices with the same numbers get the higher prizes. It was exciting since we worked on a process of elimination, and the highest scorer competed with the winners from the other tables for the grand prize which was a trip to Hong Kong. I was quite content winning two glassware sets, a box of hopia and one chichirya. I was happy enough seeing another culture up close and that is the Chinese mooncake tradition.

And oh…the mooncake was really yummy!

Aside from not blogging for the past few days, I must be so out of touch with reality because I didn’t know till yesterday afternoon that a relatively strong earthquake, measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale, shook Manila in the early hours of dawn. Sometimes I am guilty of sleeping so soundly that I wouldn’t know it even if the whole house was on fire, and that is baaad for a mother who is supposed to be on emergency alert 24/7. But then again, I dread earthquakes so much I don’t like to feel it during my waking hours (see earlier post).

It all started when a big quake, measuring 7.7 on the Richter, struck the Luzon region on July 16, 1990. I was in a high-rise Makati building and the whole structure was literally swaying like a coconut tree for a few minutes. It gave everyone the scare of their lives. Afterwards, I had to cover the tragedy for my newspaper in Baguio City where the earthquake hit deepest. There was the unmistakable stench of bodies under the rubble and tales of those people who ran for cover and never quite made it. And until now I think that when I die, I’d like it to be oh-so-quick and peaceful, not prolonged where you have to cry for help underneath fallen big piles of stone.

Surprisingly, a search through the net turned up numerous entries for kinds of phobias, from A to Z. Some of the strange results:

androphobia – fear of men
anuptaphobia – fear of staying single
caligenyphobia/ venustraphobia- fear of beautiful women
chrematophobia- fear of money
philophobia- fear of falling in love or being in love
Paraskavedekatriaphobia – fear of Friday the 13th
hedonophobia – fear of feeling pleasure

I know, i know, this is almost like a Friendster survey. But I hate writing about boring, depressing topics so I answered this to amuse myself. It’s actually a take-off from one local celebrity’s blog:

Four names you go by:
1. Anna
2. AJ (circa 90′s)
3. Juju (circa 80′s)
4. Nallen (as my mom/sis would call me)

Four things you like about yourself:
1. My honesty
2. My sense of humor
3. My passion for life and living
4. Being Superwoman!

Four things that annoy you:
1. Men behaving badly
2. The Philippine Catholic Church and their grossly outdated ideas/meddling in politics
3. The government’s population policy
4. Politicians who brazenly display their stolen wealth
* There are other things which annoy me, of course

Four things that scare you:
1. Earthquakes
2. Violence of any kind
3. Heights/Flying
4. Untoward incidents involving my kids

Four things you need everyday:
1. Hugs and kisses from my angels
2. A good meal
3. Internet
4. Coffee

Four people you spend the most time with:
1. My angels
2. My officemates
3. My best friend, Cecile
4. …and a vacancy for one

Four of your favorite hobbies:
1. Write…write
2. Read…read
3. Cook
4. And now, bowling

Four things you can’t do:
1. Skydive
2.”Swing”
3. Eat animal entrails….ewwwwe!
4. Take illegal drugs

Four things you badly want right now:
1. Buy a digicam
2. Travel
3. Take a break,
4. Take a break!

Four places you would want to spend your vacation at:
1. Boracay (soon!)
2. El Nido, Palawan
3. Carnival Cruises (with Clarisse)
4.Australia