The Holiday Season

I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner!  I finally have all my shopping done, the house cleaned (well, the living room, kitchen, bathrooms and my room.  I don't stress about my teens' rooms. If they want it clean, they'll clean it ...) and our Christmas tree purchased and decorated.  But I can't relax yet.  I still have presents to wrap and desserts to make.  I'm just glad I won't have to go to the mall again.  The traffic!!!  I feel for anyone who has to brave that headache!

Every year, amidst all the rush and stress of the holidays, I think about how different my Christmas was when I lived in the Philippines.  My parents never seemed to stress during this period.  I remember my first Christmas there after my father retired from the US Navy (I was twelve).  We didn't have a Christmas tree.  We had these instead ...

 

These are called parols or Christmas Star lanterns.  They represent the Star of Bethlehem and were once used to light the way to church for the Misa de Gallo, the early morning Christmas Eve mass.  To see vendors selling parols is usually the first sign of the coming holiday season ... aren't they lovely?

 

So, no Christmas tree. Then I was thrown for loop when my parents said there were no presents to open on Christmas morning (yikes!).   What I did instead was visit my grandparents, godparents, aunts and uncles. I greeted them with a Merry Christmas and kissed their hands.  This is a traditional Filipino way to show respect for your elders ...

... I would say "mano, po", press my forehead to their hand, especially my grandparents, as a way of normal greeting.  And on Chritmas day, instead of wrapped gifts, I received CASH.  Cool, huh?

Another tradition I remember well is called Simbang Gabi. This is when Filipinos go to mass at dawn beginning on December 16.  It lasts for nine days and ends on Christmas Eve when the mass is celebrated to welcome the baby Jesus.  I remember hearing the church bells ring, watching people walking to church in the darkness of the predawn hours.

It was really hard to wake up so early in the morning to go to church so I don't remember ever completing the whole nine days.  But when I did go, I always bought these special rice cakes from food stands outside the church.

This is called puto bungbong.  It's made from a purple glutinous rice that is ground and steamed in bamboo tubes.  As you can see in the picture, it is served with a generous amount of sugar and fresh grated coconut. YUM! 

 

This is a bibingka special.  You could buy this delightful little cake freshly baked in clay pots over a charcoal fire (sorta like dutch ovens) right at the stands!  They are baked in banana leaves, which by the way, make food very fragrant.  These are like pancakes in a way with cheese and a slice of salted egg baked right in (trust me, the egg is the BEST part!). 

My childhood Christmases in the Philippines were tree-less and Santa-less but I learned a whole lot about how wonderful it was to visit with family, share good meals, take part in traditions my parents followed which was centered on the very reason why we celebrate this holiday.  The birth of Jesus.  It is my dearest wish that someday, my children will experience that kind of Christmas and the richness of their heritage as Filipinos.

Don't get me wrong, I love our American traditions as well.  I especially love the opportunities this season gives us to reach out to those in need.  I work at the City of Hope and every year, our department adopts a family who has a loved one suffering from cancer.  The families in the program are usually in financial hardship (especially if the patient is a parent and cannot work) which means they'll probably have a rather bleak Christmas.  When we adopt a family, everyone in our department will contribute a gift or some money so that the adopted family can celebrate with ease and happiness.  Doing things like this always makes me feel great and sets the stage for giving and helping others throughout the year ... well, I guess it's time to get back to my holiday tasks ...

I wish all my friends and family a happy and joyous holiday.  I hope this season finds you in the company of those you love ...  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Going Crazy for Hats!

I've been on a knitting craze lately, making small things out of the odds and ends of my stash of yarn.  Believe me, I have quite a stash.  I have a variety of leftover yarn from projects past that are begging to be used for SOMETHING.  Something useful, something cute.  A couple of years ago, I bought myself this book for my birthday ....

 

 

I've made a few things from this book, most recently, a pair of fingerless gloves for my friend Edith Cohn, to keep her hands warm as she writes (miss you, Edith!).  Sadly, I didn't take a picture of the gloves because I was so in a hurry to get them done ....  But I did take pictures of all the HATS I've made recently!  No, these patterns are not from the book above though my current hat project is (for my dear hubby).

Babies inspire me to knit and when my nephew was born, my knitting needles began to fly!  I found a really easy and cute pattern for an Ear Flap Knitted Cap online, modified it a bit and knitted the hat up in a couple of days.  This is Luca, modelling it, though it's still a little big, it will fit just right by January.  It'll keep that precious head and ears nice and warm when his mother takes him on her daily walks around their neighborhood.

This is a pair I made for a friend at work, for his brand new baby girl, Emily.  It became a pair because I actually didn't like the way the first hat turned out (the one on the right came out curly weird along the edges) so I tried again and liked the second one better (the one on the left is made the same way I made my nephew's hat).  I ended up "blocking" the hat on the right (basically spraying the hat with water and pinning it down until dry) and giving the hat to my friend anyway.

Both pieces were fun to do because of the color work involved (the right one has fair isle knitting).  The yarn for all three hats was a pleasure to work with.  It was an ultra soft blend of Merino wool and cashmere .... just right for baby ...  :)




Here is my daughter modeling her reversible double knit hat.  The pattern can be found here.  My daughter didn't want the stripe to be very big so I continued in black.  It turned out kinda cute, huh? :)

That's it for knitted projects!

On writing, I've finally found some focus for my work-in-progress and completed two new chapters!  I'm currently recovering from surgery I had last Friday so I'm hoping to catch some writing time while I heal.  Gotta keep the creative flow going. :)

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Itty Bitty Book Review

WHEN YOU REACH ME by Rebecca Stead is a book about the wonderful, confusing, and heartbreaking complexities of childhood friendships.

This is the story of eleven-year-old Miranda.  It begins with her struggles to understand the reason why her best friend Sal doesn't want to be around her anymore.  It is during this time that she receives mysterious notes that give her clues about future events.  It ties in really nicely to Miranda's love of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time, which she reads again and again (Love this! It reminds me of how many times I've read Pride and Prejudice!).  Miranda gains a few more friends throughout the story and learns a lot about what it means to give or withhold kindness. I loved the setting of New York in 1979 because it reminded me of the time when I was eleven. I lived in Philadelphia back then and had to walk to and from school, passing someone very much like the Laughing Man and groups of boys who like nothing better that to tease girls.  The ending was heartwarming but tragic.  It will leave you reeling, and the heart of this story will stay with you long after you've finished reading the book.

What am I reading now?  HUSH HUSH by Becca Fitzgerald.

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Thankful

I am thankful for all the usual  things like good health, my family, my friends (writerly and otherwise) and in these tough times, my job.  I am thankful that I can still pay the bills and buy books.  But most of all, I am thankful for the support I receive from my dearest hubby and kids when I write, revise, brainstorm, keep in touch with the writing world online, go to conferences, read subs from my critique group, write my critiques, go nuts over writing query letters and the submission process, listen to my disappointment when I receive a rejection, listen to my excitement when I get a request for a partial or full, and on and on and on....  They are the awesomest, coolest, simply the best family I could hope to have in my journey to be an author.  <3

I forgot to mention ....

I forgot to mention that Shen's books focuses on Cultural and Multicultural books and since my story takes place in the Philippines, I am jazzed at the possiblity that they might like it ....  :)

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Eureka!

Through the wonderful post of LJer Jama Rattigan, I have found a publisher to submit my picture book story to!!!  She had posted a review for this book ... 

 ... check it out!  So cool!!!  The publisher is Shen's Books and they are right in Northern California.  I was so excited about submitting to them that I printed out the most current critiques I had on my story and am now in the process of polishing it up to send out asap.  Well, that was my intention.  As I reviewed the critiques, one in particular stood out and had me thinking.  She brought up some very valid points to improve upon so now the revision and polishing is taking a little longer.  But I mustn't neglect my WIP!!  And since I want to be a good member of my critique group and submit on time, I will work on my chapters to sub to my group first and if time permits (and it will!), I will work on my picture book submission.

On another note, I've decided to resurrect my notes from the SCBWI Summer Conference and share some of it (whatever I can decipher that is) here on this blog.  I think I mentioned this in my previous post so sorry for the repetition.  The next post will probably be my notes from Jennifer Hunt's talk, "Finding Your Inner YA".

Till then ...

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Finally ... another blog!

Yes, it has been a ridiculously long time. I actually have an LJ account as well and I haven't been blogging there either. But I think I'll switch to using this one for now as I journey through submissions and writing my second novel.

I haven't blogged about my submission journey for fear of jinxing it. Being superstitious though, doesn't do me much good. What will be, will be, and if someone out there loves my book, then they will love it regardless of how much I blab about it here.

So, in submission news, I do have fulls out to a couple of awesome agents. It's been nearly a month since I've sent them out and am trying to wait patiently. Having a new project really helps! I've been happily brainstorming and writing in between my compulsive email checks, which I have disciplined myself to doing only every two or so hours on week days .... yes, it still sounds pretty manic but I try ... of course, being busy at work helps. I work in the cytogenetics field, btw, so if you have any questions about chromosomes then I'm your girl!

About my wip, I was hemming and hawing over what to write because of something I heard at an SCBWI conference. It was something about writing a second book that is similar to your debut novel because the audience you build with your first book will be looking for something similar in your second. Not that I have a debut novel yet, but I thought I'd get a head start. Anyway, my writing friends say that I should just write whatever my heart is telling me to write at the momment. So, the decision was made. Unfortunately, my wip sounds a little like a novel that came out last September ... I've purchased the book and will read it soon just to make sure my wip isn't too similar.

On reading news, I'm reading When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. It came highly recommended by my good friend Stephanie so I bought it right away. I'll write a review on the book as soon as I finish.

On knitting news, I recently finished a pair of fingerless gloves for my friend Edith who recently moved to Boston. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of them. They are very cute and wonderful to have for writing in cool weather. I'm currently working on a hat for my daughter. I will post a picture of her modeling it soon.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I am in cooking mood. Yayy! I love the cooking smells of a Thanksgiving dinner .... Happy Thanksgiving Day to all!

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First Post!

Well. I finally caved and created my very own blog in Blogger town and . . . I think I like it. I'm not exactly sure what I'll blog about hence the title. I guess I should begin by talking about my writing. I am an aspiring author of children's books, novels mostly, though I began writing picture book stories. I write whenever I can find the time which means I have a constant backlog of laundry and other household chores. Speaking of which . . .

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