Third Sunday of Advent

John answered them all, saying, "I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire. "

Luke 3:16

CCD Christmas Pageant 2009

Today, the CCD community held its annual Christmas pageant and party. The highlight of the day were the children's presentation of the Story of Creation and the Nativity Play, a special number from the kindergarten class and gift giving by Father Christmas.

Several grades were formed into choirs. Grade 6 CCD class where JM belongs sang We Three Kings during the nativity play. Photo above shows the grade 6 class with catechist Sarah Scott preparing for their performance.

Above is the Christmas cake that the children shared during the party.

My Little Christmas Tree

I bought this cute Christmas tree from a hypermart last weekend . It's around 16 inches tall and I thought I wanted it on my office desk at home. We'll, it did not really end up on my desk, it looked prettier when I placed it on top of our cluttered book shelf. I decorated it with everything gold, bows, balls and tinsels. White fairy lights were added to complete the look. It looks really beautiful at night !

Below is a poem which I think best describes my Christmas tree. I hope you like the poem.

Christmas Tree Poem

Christmas tree, sparkling bright,

Filled with baubles, warmth and light,

Precious symbol of our affection

For Christmas time and its perfection,

Show each night your radiant glory

For "oohs" and "aahs" obligatory.

Christmas tree, don't let us down;

Show something special at your crown,

An angel, star, or splendid piece

To make our holiday joy increase,

An icon, pure, ideal, complete,

For Christmas memories fond and sweet.

Glitter and glisten, gleam and glow,

Oh Christmas tree, we love you so!

By Joanna Fuchs

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Immaculate Conception

Oil on Canvas by Francisco Zubaran

Museo del Prado, Madrid

“God freely chose Mary from all eternity to be the Mother of his Son. In order to carry out her mission she herself was conceived immaculate. This means that, thanks to the grace of God and in anticipation of the merits of Jesus Christ, Mary was preserved from original sin from the first instant of her conception.”

– Compendium of the CCC

Our Christmas Tree

We started decorating our home for the holidays today. I've always wanted a fresh pine tree for Christmas just like what we had when we were little girls and boys in our family home, but it just doesn't exists here in Thailand. We had to content ourselves with an artificial tree which is 7 feet tall. No mess and fuss, it took us moments to have it assembled. The really nice thing about artificial Christmas trees is that we can keep it and reuse for many, many years. I assigned JM to assemble the tree with a little help from me. Involving kids in this kind of activity is a good way of educating them about the importance of Advent and Christmas.

Here it is folks, our evergreen Christmas tree now ready for decorating !

We had fun decorating our Christmas tree, lights first and the ornaments followed. I have lots of ornaments in our Christmas chest but I feel I need to buy more when I do my weekend shopping on Saturday. I want to make our Christmas tree to look really special this year.

Beautiful ! Our Christmas tree glows in the dark !

JM shows off his giant stocking ready to be filled with gifts on Christmas Eve. We're not done decorating yet, I'll post photos later on how we decorated our home for the holidays this year.

Saint Nicholas

A PRAYER FOR CHILDREN

God, we pray that through the

intercessions of St. Nicholas

you will guide and protect our children.

Keep them safe from all harm

and help them grow to become

loving disciples of Jesus in your sight.

Give them strength to always mature

into deeper faith in you,

and to keep alive joy in your creation.

Through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.

by Father David R. Engbarth, St. Nicholas Church, Aurora, Illinois

Christmas Wonderland

We visited Siam Paragon today to feast our eyes on the most beautiful Christmas decorations one can find here in Bangkok. We had a great time and had lots of fun taking pictures of anything Christmas. JM at 11 years still adores teddy bears. He posed here with a family of teddy bears under a Christmas tree.

JM looked like a leprechaun while he stood gazing at the giant Christmas balls.

Santa's reindeer collared with a ruby red ring of balls.

A beautiful arrangement of snowmen, Christmas trees and children's mascots.

A giant snowman waving hello to shoppers.

A series of Christmas arches outside the paragon.

A giant Christmas tree decorated with snowflakes at the base. JM looked so small as he posed at the foot of the tree.

We paid Asia Books a visit. They've got lots of items on sale.

Inside the paragon while waiting for dad to find us after a trip to the book shop.

JM making faces at me while I took his photo near the dancing fountain.

Before heading back home, we passed by a toy shop and was met by this friendly robot.

Have a great week folks !!

Second Sunday of Advent

He went throughout (the) whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one crying out in the desert: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

Luke 3:3-4

The Colors of Sports Day

The Colors of Sports Day

The one month rehearsal for sports day is over and today students eagerly awaited the start of this annual sports competition . Parents came to watch their children compete and do performances at the opening and closing ceremonies of this important event. The morning air was cool and the sun was warm, but turned scorching by noon. The mid-day heat did not dampen the spirits of the athletes, the competition was stiff and the cheerings were exciting. Everyone had a great time is looking forward to the next years sports event. Photos below:

The school band in black played , as the parade moved around the oval.

The torch has been lit and and parents eargerly wait for the performance of their children.

The primary school kids presented an opening performance for sports day.

The members of the cheering squads watched as the parade passed by.

The Pink Panther is the official mascot of the pink cheering squad. The color of the squad's T-shirt looks youthful and sweet, suits the teenage members well.

Yellow is the symbolic color of the king of this country, true to it, the squad members stood significantly among the crowd.

The orange cheering squad enjoyed the cool weather and warm morning sun. I cannot find my any of my students in this squad. I'm sure there are several of them up there.

My grade 7 girls with the red cheering squad posed candidly before the camera.

With the apple green cheering squad team are my grade 7 boys , all looking great in their sombreros.

My grade 8 students are members of the purple cheering squad. I'm wondering why they are so well behaved this morning. They normally aren't in class.

The light blue cheering squad starting their formation.

Early Christmas

I have thought about this on the way to Sukhumvit Road aboard the BTS (Bangkok Transit System) Friday morning. I'm going to drop by this partricular area in central Bangkok all dressed up for the holiday season on Sunday . I will let my eyes feast on the beauty of this transformed Christmas wonderland. Living and working in a predominantly Buddhist country for many years now makes me wonder why everybody (every Thai person I mean) is excited about Christmas. Thai people do not know the real meaning of Christmas and simple enough, they associate this very important event in the life of a true Christian with Jingle Bells, Santa Claus, Christmas trees and every symbol of Christmas one can think of . . . except the birth of our Savior. They think that Christmas is special, even Hindus and Moslems living in this country do too. For me, I miss Christmas , the way we celebrate it at home, the true meaning of it. I miss grand family reunions, Misa de Gallo (nine days novena masses before Christmas), Christmas Eve dinner with family members, caroling and so many things that Christmas at home is made of. I try to make every Christmas spent in here in Thailand special and memorable , especially for my son JM. I knew we can't finish touring this transformed Christmas wonderland yesterday, so were coming back for more next Sunday!

My son JM at the foot of the giant Christmas tree. He looked like a dwarf in contrast to the size of the tree behind him.

This was taken at the wine section of the supermarket. The Christmas goodies looked so delicious and tempting, particularly the gingerhouse cake. We bought some yummy cakes and fancy breads and planned to come back before Christmas to buy the things we need for Christmas Eve dinner.

We went around Central World and found this Christmas tree decorated with gold and white ornaments. We had a great time looking at all the beautiful Christmas decorations around us. This was the main idea of dropping by, shopping was only second.

White Christmas bells adorned with flag inspired bows hangs beautifully above the giant Christmas tree.