Another Simple Christmas Decor Again This Year

Our Capiz Parol in our Living Room Picture Window-The Focus of our simple Season Decor

Every year for the last three decades when all the kids were gone, Macrine and I decided to have the Christmas decorations in and out of the house be simple and easy to install and remove and would not require more than 3 hours to install. WE USED TO buy real Christmas trees( from 10ft to 15ft) when the 4 D's were still residing with us. The tree was for them, but now that they have their own families, Macrine and I are happy with our 6-foot pre-lit artificial tree with just our White House Ornaments collection and other small photo ornaments. We have also a small Christmas tree made of candies ( see photo).

Tree with Lanzones Wood Carving of Belen from the Philippines

Close-Up of tree with White House Ornaments and Children Photo Decor

Candy tree with Porcelain Nativity Scene from Germany

Close Up of Carved Lanzones Wood of the Nativity Scene

Christmas Toys Collection (1960's)

Hello Santa Claus, and my two Chihuahuas( Squeezed them hard-and they will say, I love You)

Christmas Wreath in our Front Porch

The Christmas season always reminds me of the following article in my Hubpages.com account:
https://hubpages.com/travel/the-philippines-nation-of-fiestas-and-festivals

Recent and Old Photographs from My Album

My apple I-pod finally got updated, so I can take pictures and have it uploaded in my PC. Here are two photos that I took recently.

My pineapple plant in the Planter still green, but will probably die soon when the winter chills arrive. It is just too big to put it inside the house

Still have some summer blooms in the front entrance of our house.

Christmas Lights of Ditas House, 2018

Here are some old but memorable photos from my album:

Macrine and I dancing the Tango, 1999

Macrine on her BS Nursing Graduation, 1981, Pinole, California

Clouds over Amoingon Bay, Boac, Marinduque, 2013

Chateau Du Mer-Our Second Home, Boac, Marinduque, Philippines, 2015

The Katague Clan during our 60th Wedding Anniversary, 2017

Burning Hell in Paradise

Paradise is a town in Butte County, California, United States in the Sierra Nevada foothills above the northeastern Sacramento Valley.

As of the 2010 census, the town population was 26,218. On November 8, 2018, a major wildfire, the Camp Fire, destroyed most of Paradise and the adjacent Concow communities.

Macrine first cousin and husband resides in Paradise, California. Luckily their home was spared from the latest fire, the worst in the history of Wildfires in California. In case you have been sleeping and not watching television, here's a brief summary from the news( videos) as well as comments from the FaceBook page of Macrine's first cousin. Macrine's first cousin grow up in Laylay, Boac, Marinduque, Philippines.

November 8, 2018 Posting: Family and Friends❤️ Thank you for all your phone calls, text, messages and concern. We made it safely to Sacramento despite of the heavy traffic and staying with our good friend. We hope and pray that our home is still standing and for everyone’s safety 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

November 25, 2018 Posting: Just read from a friend’s posting in FB ... she STATED.... “our neighborhood of 54 houses in the lower part of Paradise is the ONLY COMMUNITY that survived the CAMP FIRE completely intact. She learned from local TV station. Our neighborhood has its own water and sewage system.. all our services up now. Defensible space around the entire neighborhood is what saved our houses”..

AGAIN.... Jim and I, as well as Tom and Jerry appreciate all your prayers and concern ❤️❤️❤️. NO WORDS CAN EXPRESS OUR GRATITUDE TO ALL FIREFIGHTERS AND FIRST RESPONDERS.... PLEASE, LET’S CONTINUE OUR PRAYERS FOR ALL THE VICTIMS WHO LOST EVERYTHING and THEIR LOVED ONES AND STILL MISSING.🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 PARADISE WILL RISE AGAIN! GOD BLESS US ALL❤️.

November 26, 2018 Posting: CAMP FIRE 100% contained 🙏🏻 FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEART ..THANK YOU FIREFIGHTERS AND FIRST RESPONDERS..
Sharing our green lawn with God’s Creature ❤️so happy to see them back in the neighborhood and know they made it❤️time not to be selfish because they lost their foods in the fire😪

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Macrine's Physical Therapy Sessions and Her Home Health Aides

Blossom Ridge Home Health provides physical therapy services for Macrine three times a week. I am pleased with the services of Crystal, the physical therapist assigned to Macrine ( see photo). Crystal has a doctorate degree in Physical Therapy. She is very knowledgeable with a very pleasant personality and really care for her patients. Also in the photo is Mele (Tonga-American), one of the four home health aides that David and I hired to help us take care of Macrine's needs.

There are days when Macrine feel good and she can walk more than 75 feet around the house. However, there are days when she could barely stand.

The physical therapy session has really helped her strengthen her legs muscles. The goal would be that she can walk with minimum supervision and hopefully we can go again to Thunder Valley Casino in the near future. Please continue your prayers for Macrine's complete recovery.

Macrine enjoying her blueberry muffins for breakfast

Macrine and Amy ( Home Health Aide) after a Nice Hot Shower. Amy is employed by Blossom Ridge. She is doing an excellent job for Macrine Bathing needs.

Macrine enjoying her bear claws pasty with Lulu and David

Lulu ( Mexican-American) is one of the Home health aide( Helping Hearts) that help Macrine on Wednesday and Fridays from 9AM to 1PM. Lulu also helps Macrine with her exercises and urge her to play the piano.

Macrine has another home health aide, Mindy( Partners-in Care), a Filipina-American who comes on Tuesday and Thursday from 9AM to 1PM.

Mindy emptying Macrine's poly catherer and rinsing it with Saline

Mindy also does some light housekeeping ( vacuuming and doing the laundry) when Macrine is taking a nap.

On weekends, besides Mele, we have Letty helped us.

Macrine trying to wake up with teaspoon of Coffee given by Letty, one of our private home aide on weekends.

This posting is thanking all of you mentioned in this blog for helping me and David take care of Macrine's needs. Your Christmas Gift from See's Candies will be given to you on your last day of service prior to Christmas Day.

Alexa-Our Early Christmas Gift from David III

We finally have Alexa at home. For our Christmas gift this year, David purchased Alexa Apps, yesterday. I enjoyed asking Alexa for the weather information, increase or decrease the volume of music from Heart Radio( Julio Iglesias), news and other information from the Internet. Alexa can tell jokes and stories also. If you tell her you love her, she will respond, how sweet or that's nice!.

What is Alexa? Amazon Alexa, known simply as Alexa, is a virtual assistant developed by Amazon, first used in the Amazon Echo and the Amazon Echo Dot smart speakers developed by Amazon Lab126. It is capable of voice interaction, music playback, making to-do lists, setting alarms, streaming podcasts, playing audiobooks, and providing weather, traffic, sports, and other real-time information, such as news.

Alexa can also control several smart devices using itself as a home automation system. Users are able to extend the Alexa capabilities by installing "skills" (additional functionality developed by third-party vendors, in other settings more commonly called apps such as weather programs and audio features).

Most devices with Alexa allow users to activate the device using a wake-word (such as Alexa); other devices (such as the Amazon mobile app on iOS or Android) require the user to push a button to activate Alexa's listening mode. Currently, interaction and communication with Alexa are only available in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese. In November 2017, Alexa became available in the Canadian market in English only. As of September 2017, Amazon had more than 5,000 employees working on Alexa and related products. ( From Wikipedia)

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