Christmas Is Not Over Yet!?

 Before the year 2021 ends...

CHRISTMAS IS NOT OVER YET!

However...

Christmas is over for the celebration of New Year 2022! But those special memories of 2021 live forever for the book. Cheers!

Today, I'm busy once again in preparation for our New Year's Eve Dinner. As usual, it would be very simple, modest, and just exclusively for the family. 

Wishing each and every family the wisdom, the hope, and good blessings from the Lord God Almighty the Creator of heaven and earth. GOOD LUCK to all of us and may the NEW YEAR 2022 brings our families with enough courage, enough patience, good health, happiness, resilience and prosperity.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2022!

GOD BLESS US!

Our Family's Christmas Tree 2021

 

Our year 2021 Christmas tree. Husband always chooses the Douglas fir tree for our Christmas tree. Most of the tree ornaments were from previous years. However, this time I added to hang some of the small nutcrackers on those branches of the tree. 

I'm gonna be very busy in the next hours to come. As usual have to cook delicious gourmet foods and husband has to roast the young turkey for Christmas Eve dinner. It would be just a simple, modest celebration, nothing fancy. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS everybody!🎅🎄🎉🎭🎇🎆🎆🎆🎆🎇

Take care and be safe!

Whether You Like It Or Not

 Yey! It starts to snow once again... *

Our streets will be slippery and who care would be out there plowing snow? The snow on the streets and ground just few centimeters high only but snow white covered ground is just a beautiful site to see. I don't know how thick or thin the sleet of snow in other parts of the city. 

For me, I love the color white snow on the ground, snow on the mountains, on top of the trees and on top of the roofs of houses and more over the snow on branches of trees. There is something enchanting and magical about snow, snow flakes and the icicles. 

Snowflakes and its millions of wonderful intricate patterns are absolutely lovely and to every artist's observation each pattern is unique and unequal. Each pattern is uniquely delicate and creatively formed into unexplained formation of what its enchanted life could be. 

Snowflakes are made of crystallized freezing cold water. I wonder what other chemicals in it to form such magnetism, prism and structure of magnanimous proportion. It was awe inspiring to have touch a snowflake or billions of snowflakes in just a drop. However, you can only see each beautiful, radiant unique pattern of snowflake through electron microscope. Other than that better just celebrate the holidays with fun in the snow than lament over the pandemic and do nothing.

If you are that strong against any obstacles, you can defeat covid and its variants.

Keep your mind and  body stronger than covid virus, delta and omicron. Eat healthy foods. You don't have to diet.

Keep yourself stronger. Stay safe. Wear face masks outside your comfort zones.

If You're Not A Cook

 Some people might laugh at $1,500 monthly budget for food and cleaning supply for a family and for God sake people, it's better that way than having to queue up at the Food Bank. I know so many millions of people rely on Food Banks especially during the pandemic and certain calamities and disaster. You cannot blame those people. You can only pray that it wont happen to you.

I know some of you are wealthy, so rich and stuck up that you can afford to dine in at fancy restaurants and order $30/meal each for five members of your family, total of  $150/dinner only! Can you just imagine if you spend $150 (without dessert and beverage) every dinner at your favorite gourmet restaurant every Sunday night for one month  that would cost $600 + tip +tax. ($800 including desserts and beverages). Dining at gourmet restaurants is more than a privilege and luxury nowadays.

But some people have no problem with money$$$$$. They have huge problem with cooking food. Or they don't have time to prepare and cook. For two members or just a couple, going out for dinner is more of a saving by dining at restaurants. However, if you have 3 kids or extra kids maybe you wont save any.

The point of having to dine at restaurants and fast-food, no need to clean dishes, cutlery, pots & pans. No need to clean the kitchen. There's no need to use electricity or gas for cooking. No need to use hot water for cooking and cleaning dishes.

Hmmm, wonder how much we can save from having to dine in at restaurants? We really haven't try that option.

The option at my place is: My family has to stay at home and just savour the flavor of my home-cooked meals. Whether they like it or not.

Palabok for dinner.

Options In Gold

 The whole day was the latest news of price hikes for agricultural products! Lo and behold we knew that it's gonna happen one way or another after those unforgiving calamities of floods and wildfires. Good that there's no snowstorm of the century. 

The "supply chain" and the distribution of goods and services during the devastating calamities had it way too far that the struggling business people will have to do such drastic measures of price hike for their farm goods. Next year!

You can just understand them. Uncertainty that is...

If our grocery bills amounting to over $1,200/month on regular basis, next year would be or probably $1,500/month because of the price hike.

Of course that includes the food (meat/fish/poultry, canned goods, pasta, noodles, bread), softdrinks, juice, cleaning supply, bathroom tissue, paper towels, bath soap, shampoo, laundry detergent, coffee, sugar, milk, vegetables, sack of rice and bags of potatoes. Our coffee consumption would probably less next year. Husband spent $200 worth of Coffee (pods) per month for our Keurig machine. He was thinking of using electric coffee pot instead, much cheaper.

To minimize expenditures, better browse local supermarket flyers, use discount coupons or shop only when products are on "sale."

Being thrifty without being stingy or learn to diet.

Many options out there.

Good luck to all of us.

Let It Snow...Let it snow ******

 Christmas without snow in Canada is not really CHRISTMAS!

Hanukkah! Last day of Hanukkah for those Israelites or Jews celebrating their Jewish faith.

Of course truth be told that the Canadian meteorologist didn't fail us this time. It snowed last night until daytime at Vancouver island. Wow! Joyous! Thanks be to God!!

Not good for those who will drive to go to their work and students who will go to schools and University.

Unhappy for those who will plow the snow but hey, aren't you paid for such hard work? Be happy that you have extra job. Every pennies count. Every nickel, every dime counts. 

Besides we need the wonderful white snow to cover the ground especially at this time of the year. Snow brought miracles to our water system. They cleaned and sanitized the grounds. It's a cleansing agent that purifies the water and the land area in your place of territory.

So stop the crap and don't be grumpy.

Note: Winter Solstice on December 21. So far we are advance.

Collection

 

I was staring at my collection of nutcrackers wondering if I could have additional piece of nutcracker to add to my collection.

I searched over the internet, google some of the images  and found this nutcracker, one of a kind...

The king nutcracker riding the rocking horse!

Whatever! Just my pet peeve. 

Nutcrackers are truly expensive. It's not cheap!

Key Questions: What, Why, How, When, Who, Where

 

Checking our deep freezer. What to cook next? What's easy to cook? Why? 

Why the need to cook? How to cook it?

What needs to buy or shop next for the next trip to the supermarket? Where? What supermarket and where's that supermarket is located?

What to have for dessert or snack? 

Darn it! Who cares? Who cares what we eat everyday? How are we to cook food and how we should post it here? Who cares about what we eat and what we do everyday?

Do we really have to post that we are not lazy? that we work so hard at home? That every mother works at home. MOTHERS, every mother cooks at home. Mothers cook and clean the house and look after their own children especially if they don't have housemaids or helpers, grandparents  or nanny.

You are born lucky to have the help of your grandparents living in your own house and your parents do not need a babysitter. Your childhood mind has better chance of keeping up the old good memories and forever be in your minds and hearts. Forever memories. Grand cherished memories, wont fade away.

However, when parents, both of them are working so hard to keep the family afloat and have all the basic needs available, nothing to worry, really that's what a fully harmonious financially well endowed family with no problems and no conflict to get worried about. Is there a perfect family like that? Really? The truth is no home is perfect, no family is perfect. I wonder why. You are living a great lie if you will tell me that your home and family is perfect.

So, stop the crap and be honest with yourself. 

Oh, by the way... it's already December and department stores and shopping centers are getting crowded because holidays are fast approaching. Some affluent and wealthy families already are shopping for gifts. Next thing you know... what's left out there are remnants.

For those who would like to give gifts please stop giving me chocolates with peanuts, almonds, cashews, and everything NUTS! is prohibited! STOP GIVING ME perfumes or fragrance that I don't like nor my skin doesn't like it especially those perfumes, colognes, lotion that were tested through plants. Or fragrances that smell urine. Yuck! Don't you have sense of smell?

I'm a human being for God sake! If those fragrances were tested and experimented on plants, which ones? Sumac, poison ivy? What the hell! Please stop giving me cosmetic. How many times have to suggest that to the givers. Maybe they doing it on purpose. Do not give gifts that you don't like. It's like some people give gifts that they don't like and thus, give it to  some people they don't like. Strange right?

There are many valuable gifts that you can give. Gift cheques or gift card is not good for me. CASH is much, much better. Ha ha ha! Well, gift giving should be something that can make a person happy not that you make them miserable of your kind of gift. 

STOP BEING SO CHEAP!

NOTE: Look, I am being annoying. Kids, you think that I'm being mean or the giver is really mean? Think again. Anyway, I believe in Santa Claus when I was a child but I know that it was also a "myth" so I am not that kind of being fooled of who's really Santa because my God, can you not read at age 5 or 6? Whatever. That's right the allergy has that negative implications on my thinking but still I am very straightforward and very frank. Nothing else's matter in this world but honesty and modesty. If you keep on lying to yourself then that's your problem not mine.

OMG! I'm waiting for the snow to arrive sooner than later.