Growing up in the Philippines, I never made a single parol.
They were ubiquitous, gracing homes for a little over 4 months each year, from the start of September (when Christmas unofficially but unanimously begins in the Philippines) all through the Christmas season. Named after the Spanish word for lantern, farol, they are not only symbols of the Star of Bethlehem, but the quintessential symbol of Christmas in the Philippines as well.
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Our kids rarely step inside crying rooms – mostly because the little chapel we go to on Sundays doesn’t have one. Everyone there knows our kids and I’m sure would tolerate practically any mischief on their part, but this only impels us even more to help our kids stay quiet (for the most part, anyway).
What a gorgeous past couple of days! Yesterday, the kids spent most of the time playing outside, save for meals, Mass and a trip to the nearby monastery for the Divine Mercy chaplet. The beautiful weather made concentrating on indoor activities quite a challenge – made more so by all the would-be home projects awaiting our attention. Spring is definitely here!
To commemorate the arrival of spring, I thought I would share some Pinoy decorating ideas with you – ways of incorporating the Filipino touch to your home, including some that are not seemingly Pinoy at first glance.
As mentioned in my previous post, this book changed my life forever in the kitchen: French Kids Eat Everything: How Our Family Moved to France, Cured Picky Eating, Banned Snacking, and Discovered 10 Simple Rules for Raising Happy, Healthy EatersTrue, reading it taught me some tricks to help our kids be more adventurous eaters. But more than that, it helped me understand how my parents were able to get us as children to eat a wide variety of unusual foods back home – almost painlessly. And this understanding gave me the confidence to do the same for ours.
[This is a continuation of Growing up Bilingual Part 1. Another related post is Ugat Pinoy (Pinoy Roots)].
It was smooth sailing until our kids started school. Then suddenly, speaking Tagalog went out of favor. Everyone else spoke English ALL the time, why not us too?
Pinoy Roots 