Images of 2010

One more day till we say goodbye to 2010 and what more fitting way to end it here by posting pictures depicting highlights of the past year. It has been a blessed year full of heartwarming events and occasions with family and friends. We are grateful to the Lord's many blessings of good health and happiness and we pray for a safe joyful new year ahead of us! 

Easter and Ben's birthday brunch at downtown Aquarium 

 

at the Houston Zoo

 

Aston's 3rd birthday party at the Children's museum

 

Halloween parade at school

One Saturday morning

Mother's Day at Grimaldi's





First day of school at St. Luke's Day School




Thanksgiving table at home

Christmas 2010

Shutterbug

My most wonderful husband gave me a new camera for Christmas and the past few days I have been playing with it and taking pictures of random things inside the house. Thankfully with the pretty holiday decor still up, they make for interesting non-complaining subjects (unlike our 3 year old). I know I have to learn more (despite re-reading the manual) and I'm so excited to explore what this fancy camera is capable of doing. In the meantime, here are some less than stellar (but better than my old point and shoot) shots I was able to take the last few days......

not bad, eh?

My Christmas Loot

I hope you all had a great time with your loved ones and friends this past holiday break. Our's was full of fun, food, laughter and yes, tons of gifts!

I am so lucky to have generous groovy family and friends and all my christmas presents rocks! Guys, you know who you are and i thank you so much. We sure had a fabulous time sharing good tidings and joy and I am now excited for the new year to come and what it holds for us! 

Christmas Day

We are hoping you and your family had the most wonderful Christmas celebration. Here are a few snippets from our own splendid Christmas day. It was a full day spent with family, close friends and relatives!

It started with the most anticipated opening of gifts.
{Thank you Aunt Josie Lynn for my spiderman pjs!}

Before heading out to Christmas day luncheon at a cousin's place, 
here's Aston with cousin Katie who's visiting for the holidays.

Trying out Christmas toy presents. The new favorite scooter 
is from his cousins Daniel and David.
{Spiderman helmet from Aunt Rae and Uncle Jeff}

We are so thankful for all the warm greeting cards, calls, texts and emails from friends and relatives. You each made this holiday season extra special and memorable. We hope that your's was happily spent with loved ones and reflecting on the true meaning of the yuletide season. 

Christmas Ornaments

i was in a blog giveaway winning streak last week and scored me the most adorable baby JESUS ornament from crafty sisters via paula's blog giveaway. it very timely got in the mail today and is now perched on our tree. thank you so much for this lovely giveaway prize!

after trying to find the perfect spot for it, i got to lovingly look and inspect all our other special ornaments collected through the years. some new, some old - all are special and dear to our little family!

i am wishing one and all the merriest Christmas and a joyous blessed new year ahead! 

Merry Christmas to All!

Wishing you and your family the best of the Holiday Season!

With love, the Tiongsons

{holiday ornament card by tiny prints}

December 12

It was my sister Lilith's 3rd death anniversary and we spent the day attending mass and witnessing their wonderful christmas cantata, which we look forward to year after year. We had a great gathering and fellowship afterwards over luncheon and the kids had a fun decorate-a-cookie project after their hearty meal!

Aston and Bianca decorating their holiday sugar cookies. mommy behind is ready for Aston's mess

mommy couldnt resist a cookie!

this last photo cracks me up ~ Aston licking off the icing of his decorated cookie!

{all photos by dear friend, rae. thank you!}

Holiday Gift Guide

Let's change gear a little bit here and skip a family post to make way for a holiday gift guide. If you are following my other blog, this may not be new to you but I'll share it here anyway. Who knows you may have missed a friend or two and may need last-minute gifts for them. Checking out this gift guide may ease the stress in picking out the perfect gift for a loved one! 

here are the shopping links :

Gifts for Babies

Gifts for Tweens

Gifts for Him

Gifts for Her

Images from Christmas Pasts

I'd like to post here some of our old holiday photos in the past before I manage to accidentally delete any of them in my files. I already could not find some of our earlier hardcopy pictures (when negative rolls of films still existed) and I am very glad for some of these digital copies saved. You do recognize that these are early 2000 pics as I used to have long hair and managed to stay under 140 lbs (!) then. You'll see the transformation as we get to recent pictures and you know what I'm talking about. Ben still looks the same. No weight gain or anything. Possibly more grey hair but you'll hardly notice that either. Ok, on to my cheerful holiday post as I ignore my weight gain battle issue. LOL.

2004 Under our tree with goddaughter Bianca. It was their first Christmas in Houston (after moving from Chicago) and it snowed Christmas eve!

2005 At bestfriend's Joy and Loven's house helping out the little elves decorate their tree. With Bianca and friend, KC. 

Me proudly showing off my new ipod shuffle from Joy and Loven as we opened gifts at their home Christmas eve 2005.


Somehow, I could not find pictures of Dec. 2006, the Christmas I was pregnant with Aston. That's probably a good thing. Ha!




2007 The holiday season went in a blur, just like this photo of our tree that year. That November, my sister Lilith was diagnosed with brain cancer glioblastoma-type. She underwent surgery in November, went home for Thanksgiving and back at the hospital in early December and passed away under hospice care on the 12th right before Christmas. We were all devastated and with the support of family, friends and relatives, we managed to cope through the yuletide season knowing she was in a much better place.






2007 Aston was only 7 months when Lilith passed away. Here he was picking out a last minute tree to decorate with cousin Katie.

2007 Taken at a friend's house 4 days (and 2 days before Christmas day) before my flight to the Philippines to bring home Lilith's remains. It was a sad bittersweet homecoming. 

2008 Us under a giant Christmas tree

2008 Aston with Santa and daddy

2009 Christmas day luncheon at nana's place

2009 Opening presents Christmas morning

There are more memorable images of previous holiday celebrations to sort out. I am just happy to post these as I fondly recall warm thoughts and memories of the holiday seasons past. 

Day 3 Disneyworld : Animal Kingdom

Here's the last set of pictures from our long weekend trip to Disneyworld. It rained earlier in the day but it turned out very pretty after lunch and we were off again to our last park visit before we head home. Animal Kingdom did not disappoint as well!

Goodbye Disneyworld! We hope to visit it you again next year!