It's 10 to two a.m., and before I go to bed I think I'll write down the ten things I learned today:

10. nothing beats spending a day filled with laughter with ibu :) - indeed, i am blessed
9. packing can be done well in advance, and those bags and bags of purchases CAN actually fit!
8. listening to windham hill's 'holiday guitar collection' is extremely calming
7. bookstores and music stores are my ultimate weakness...(yes, i bought windham hill's cd after i said i was DONE shopping!)
6. one can never have enough multi-coloured ikea plastic containers
5. it's amazing how good design makes me smile (and how IKEA just makes me glow!)
4. attending mass by close circuit (plasma) tv in a closed room outside of the church proper is a very strange experience
3. to God, all singing in His name - however off key, screeching, or horrid to my ears - is a form of prayer (though perhaps humans can turn the volume down a wee bit)
2. all i want for christmas is the gift of patience
1. everyone has something to say, even little girls who read in 'tongues' at mass, copying the priest


...in about 12 hours we'll be having lunch at Merville, and I can already "smell" that wonderful feeling of being among family at Christmas time. Guess I should try to sleep. As much as I think I'm done packing, I'm sure there will be at least an hour more to do before we leave Singapore for Manila.

Photo by cesarastudillo