Sunday, December 29, 2013

Christmas Cakes and Christmas Parties: Naga City Christmas 2013 Series 4

Christmas Cakes and Christmas Parties
Have a Beautiful Cake and Eat It Too
 (Naga City Christmas 2013 Series 4)

There are things that make Christmas
memorable for kids, like the Christmas tree
and the colorful gifts underneath it,



...Christmas socks and stockings by the fireplace
(yes, we have a' faux' fire place at home, 
meant  for an aircon vent made to look as one)
ready to catch Santa’s gifts,


...Christmas carols,



...and of course, school Christmas parties.


While my teen age daughter Nicole already
passed the age of Santa worship and is on
full time home schooling in high school,


My son Timothy is still on lower elementary
and mixed home and regular schooling program
and still on his Santa Claus wonder years.


He gets very excited every time he sees a gift
and still looks forward on their yearly potluck
Christmas Party in school, where every student
brings a certain dish and shares it with everyone.




Timothy has been the official cake bearer for their
 annual Christmas party for the past three years,
and Cake My Day has been dishing out beautiful
Christmas cakes since he was in Pre- school.


Two years ago, he brought a chocolate cake
shaped like a gingerbread house populated
with a happy gingerbread family.



It was so beautiful that the kids
did not want it eat it anymore


For last year’s Christmas Party, Cake my Day
baked him a beautiful and delicious
winter wonderland themed Christmas cake .




This year, Cake my Day did not disappoint.
It baked the kids beautiful Christmas cake,
decorated with iconic Christmas trimmings,


Santa was at to bottom of the cake standing
between a snowman and a Christmas Tree,



...with  his gifts scattered around the cake
waiting  to be delivered on Christmas Day.



At the top of the cake was a gingerbread man,
lying on Santa’s gift pouch, and an elf riding
at the back of Rudolf the red nosed- reindeer.




There was also an intricately designed
icicle  patterns around the cake.

 

...and a lovely Christmas Candy ribbon
tied  between the two layered cake.






One of Timothy’s classmate brought
multi- colored balloons for the party.





And since it’s a potluck party, every student
brought their own food and specialty dish
to be shared for everyone during the party.



Few days before the Christmas Party, my wife noticed that
the kids did not have a Christmas Tree in the classroom and we
are aware of the school policy that they did not want to bother
the parents to pay for unnecessary miscellaneous expenses,



...so we bought a five foot Christmas tree for them,
 which the kids excitedly decorated on their free time.



We also bought a dancing and singing of Santa
To match that had motion sensors and dances
to the tune of Santa Clause is Coming to town.



The presence of a life-like dancing Santa amused
the kids a lot that they purposely moved a lot so 
Santa ends up singing and dancing non- stop all day,


...so we decided to display it only during the party as it
was distracting the classes with his singing and dancing.



Timothy was also able to give Christmas gifts
to all his classmates as he always does yearly,

 




...and to all his teachers.


The good thing with kids on mixed home schooling
where their purpose of going to school is for just
for academic support and  socialization and not
to get high grades and compete academically,





...we get to get to show our appreciation to everyone,
without being accused of bribing the teachers.



The kids could become teacher’s pets
without them being accused of favoritism.


  These are the things that we can’t do in traditional schools
where kids compete with one another for a higher grades.


We can even pull the kids out of school as we travel a lot
and still catch up with the lesson thru home schooling.



With  no grades keep and just a lot of lessons to learn
keeps the kids happy, healthy, stress-free and wise.
They can party and travel as long as they want.


It's a Christmas party where one can bring
a cake and everyone can eat it too, 


...without any form of guilt and accusations.



Christmases are more fun 
when your school is cool. 

Merry Christmas, everyone.



Read My Other






Thursday, December 26, 2013

Naga City, Christmas City: Naga City Christmas 2013 Series 3

Naga City, the Christmas City
Naga City Christmas 2013 Series 3

It was December 24, and Naga City is at the peak
of the festive Christmas season’s holiday mood.

 
Source: Naga City Deck 

We had no work, the kids are on school holiday
and we intended to do several things that day.


First on our list was to visit the famed Christmas display
 at the City Plaza, for the yearly Kamundagan Festival.

(I borrowed photos at from Naga City Facebook page as
I haven't had a chance to visit the Kamundagan Fair yet)



Kamundagan, a Bicolano word for birthday
 is an annual Christmas Festival in Naga City
that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ,

 
Source: Naga City Deck 

 ...then drop by the Christmas Carnival Fair
that features life like dinosaur robots,

 
Cropped from a photo from the net: SOURCE

...dine at the Magsaysay Strip,

 

...drop by Naga Cathedral to pray,


...visit my son’s former pre- school teacher
who had just given birth to her first child,
after shopping for gifts that we would bring for
the brand new mother and  her new born baby.


But we weren’t able to do any of those we planned.
The Kamundagan Chirstmas Display was overcrowded
With people and we couldn’t find a parking space,

Source: Naga City Deck

The Chirstmas Carnival Fair was just as crowded
and we also could not find a place to  park. 

(I was able to pick the photo below randomly from the net 
and the little boy on it happened to be my son's classmate,
and who's mom was my wife's classmate in collage)

 
 Taken from the net: SOURCE

Magsaysay Strip was teeming with people, the restaurants
were fully booked and there was also no place to park.



Naga Cathedral was closed, and we found it strange
that a church would close on a Christmas Eve,


We went to SM City Naga and found all four levels
of the multi level parking occupied, including
every nook and cranny at the outdoor car park .


The same thing happened with Puregold Malls
in Diversion Road and in the City Center.


E- Mall and Robinsons were also full of people
and we also couldn’t find any parking.


...and we finally found a parking space
at LCC Central Mall

 



...and was able to shop for some gifts,





...despite the kilometric line 
at the cashier’s counters.


...and we were also able to dine at Jollibee.

 

...and off we went to the nearby San Fernando town to
visit my son’s former pre- school teacher and her baby.



Come to think of it, we weren’t able to do everything
we intended to do, a day before Christmas,

 

 ...but what  more could be more apt and more meaningful than
 welcoming a new born baby to this world on Christmas eve?
 

Read My Other