I KNOW you are up to your neck with Christmas-related tips. Let me irritate you with one more. Please add my suggestions to your list. This is Christmas preparation day. Let me spell out some points you may find useful:
CAKES, COLD DESSERTS. Consider frosted cakes and cold desserts (such as cathedral window) as your departure from ice cream. They keep better than ice cream.
HUMBA. Serve humba instead of lechon this Christmas. I have tasted several versions of this Cebuano answer to chicken pork adobo. A common version is made with soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, dried azucena flowers, whole peppercorns and dried bay leaf (locally known as laurel).
There have been other versions that I have tried over the years. A friend of mine brought humba to a pot luck party. It had fried pineapple rings.
My aunt once served the family humba mixed with fried, quartered potatoes just before serving time. Most karinderias sell humba mixed with hard boiled, shelled eggs.
I once attended a town fiesta. The humba on the table had salted black beans and green onions. One humba version I can’t forget had black mushrooms on it, giving it an earthy flavor.
RECYCLE WITH CARE. If you recycle gifts, make sure to keep the gift card taped on the gift to avoid giving it back to the original giver the following year. However, there are clever ways to use the plethora of mugs you have received in one year. My Aunt Tita Blitte found good use of the two dozens of mugs that have accumulated in the house. They now hold kitchen spoons and spatulas. They have been recycled as flower vases. This is also where she stuffs sachets of 3-in-1 coffee.
INVITE. Do invite people into your homes at Christmas time. The list can include friends who can’t go to their hometowns due to lack of time or budget. You may also have friends or relatives who live all by themselves. Invite them to your home.
SAVE. Yes, save something for next year. Santa is in town but he will not stay over.
THE TREE. Place gifts under your Christmas tree. Open them at midnight. But do remember your house helpers and guests who will be part of the celebration. Buy something for them to make their Yuletide experience complete.
MASS. Make going to church part of your celebration. If you partake of the Christmas “madness,” do include worship in the menu of things to do. Whatever your religious affiliation may be, for as long as you follow the celebration, take time to call on your Maker.
ACCEPT. Starting this Christmas, make it a habit to accept certain differences that can’t be changed. Stop bashing people just because they look different or have made mistakes. The center of Christmas is God accepting us back into the heavenly fold through Christ. Make acceptance your motto this year.
SERVE. Serve happiness, love and respect this Christmas and the days to come.
Merry Christmas!