It is the fourth time since 1900 that the Jewish festival Hanukkah is being celebrated during the Christmas season, which ends on the Feast of the Epiphany or the baptism of Jesus on Jan. 5. This year, Hanukkah began at sundown on Dec. 25 and will end on Jan. 2. (The date of the holiday...
Tag: Christmas
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Once upon a Christmas potluck
BAGUIO CITY—My husband Rolly Fernandez and I have been extremely choosy about which gatherings to attend during this holiday season. Our antisocial streak has been heightened ever since we retired. We just like to hang out at home with our furry golden Satchi. This last Sunday was the exemption because the invitation to lunch felt...
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Give2Gift program targets the elderly as beneficiary
What’s Christmas without giving to those in need? For its annual Give2Gift employee-led program that supports vulnerable communities, SmarTrade, in partnership with ATFX Cares, the corporate social responsibility arm of ATFX, extended help to San Lorenzo Ruiz Home for the Elderly in Pasay City. Food, clothing, healthcare products, toiletries, and other basic supplies contributed by...
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Watch your step
I learned to walk when I was 2, and almost instinctively, I made it my life’s motto to “always watch my step.” Now that I am 30, and having lived most of my days walking and randomly stepping on dog poop, I can now say with adultlike conviction that sh*t happens. It happens without warning...
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‘People who love to eat are always the best people’
That Julia Child dictum of wisdom has guided me late in life, especially in this holiday season when one moveable feast after another in Baguio City, where I live, summoned me and my bottomless appetite. The feasting began early as balikbayan friends from the United States trooped to professor emeritus Delfin Tolentino’s art-filled abode in...
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Christmas food and agricultural productivity
What do Filipino households spend most on during Christmas? You guessed it: food. The Philippines is also the country that proportionately spends the most on Christmas food, according to a 2023 worldwide survey of 23 countries by WorldRemit. The survey classified Christmas spending according to three categories: food, decorations and gifts. A Filipino household on...
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5 Christmas parties while exploring for mines in 3 countries
Many Filipinos overseas yearn for Christmas in the motherland, and in my years working abroad, I’ve had to forgo that simple pleasure. But December 1993 was probably my best, celebrating it with five parties in three countries which are not even Christian. Although our work in Thailand was winding up, we went to Laos, across...
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Do you see what I see?
For people around the world, Christmas is a season of anticipation, joy, gifts and celebration. For others, it represents a season of loss, loneliness, isolation and sadness. For many others, it’s both. How do you see it? “Do you see what I see?” is a question asked in a popular Christmas carol. It refers to...
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This Christmas, help yourself forgive with the ‘REACH’ method
Dear Mark and Cathy, My boyfriend of five years passed away suddenly six months ago. In the wake of his passing, I discovered many secrets—things that he did not tell me about. It appears that all that time we were together he was leading a double life. Whenever I think of his betrayal, I am...
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Endless want, endless Christmas
The Christmas holiday season in the Philippines starts in earnest after All Souls’ Day. Gift lists are updated, the holiday-party, vacation and reunion schedules finalized. Weeks prior, the mall and tiangge merchants are already on holiday marketing mode, playing carols to set the mood and reeling in customers with irresistible discount sales. But now is...