A miniature belen composed of little whimsical clay
figurines at my friend Jack's house — the three Wise
Men look like they're in European costumes and come
maybe from the era of Don Quixote! It's set on tinalak
cloth. I see sheep, but no donkey. Sorry, eduardo.

Sorry, Eduardo, but I've been looking around for
belens that had the donkey or sheep but nada. I guess
maybe because we don't have these animals in the
Philippines. Maybe I'll find find one for you with goats
and a carabao? ;-)

'Tis the season for bazaars and tiangges all over
the land. And the biggest, most-awaited bazaar
in the southern suburbs is the St. James Bazaar.
I peeked in but I backed off from diving in and
joining the shopping melée — I don't like crowds
and to say this was crowded is an understatement!
Not a place for claustrophobes!

Either this is a burglar caught red-handed and red-suited.
Or Santa Claus has been enjoying cookies and milk too
much and too often that he is too heavy to hoist his hefty
tummy up the balcony...

It just isn't Christmas in the Philippines without puto bumbong!

The traffic was just so unexpectedly and horrendously
impenetrable, that I decided to hang around the Town
Center and kill time before braving my way home after
the wedding in Canlubang. And just as I clicked to take
a shot of the big parol, this head almost came into view.
I looked up from my camera to find that the light-reflecting
pate belonged to my old friend Boldy (no, not Baldy,
though many make the mistake of saying it that way)! :-)