The First Sunday of Advent in Manila

Today is the first Sunday of advent.

The season of celebrating Christ. The season of being with Christ. The season of living with Christ.

The season of giving (and receiving). The season of sharing. The season of being with the family. The season of fun.
Tradition is very important. That is why even if we are in Manila, we wanted to continue our usual Christmas preparations.
To keep our German tradition of lighting a candle, I had to assemble an advent wreath from scratch. This time, there are no freshly cut pines from our garden. I miss the smell of fresh pine!
What I did was buy an already formed wreath (which here they usually put up on the doors); and asked the girls to help me use the 'old' Christmas decors we brought from Germany.
It was easy to do, the girls simply had to stick those balls, wrap those ribbons, plant those flowers. My husband protested a bit when it came to putting those 'apple formed and scented' candles but I told him I have in hand those sturdy candle holders from Germany. Of course, I told the whole family to be extra careful. Let us not keep the candles burning too long; and we should always watch out (not only for Santa Claus) :D
And here's how it looked like (see photo). Of course, there's the advent's calendar. But that's another story.