Tag: Christmas

2024 LOOK BACK: A Year of Growth, Celebration, and Dreams Taking Shape

1 Comment

As the clock ticks closer to the end of 2024, I can’t help but reflect on what an incredible year it has been for our family. This year wasn’t just about celebrations; it was about growth, stepping out of comfort zones, making bold moves, and seeing long-held dreams start to take shape. And so, as I sit down to reflect on 2024, I feel a mix of emotions. Though the latter part of December saw me struggling with a wave of depression, I now realize it was likely hormonal — my period suddenly arrived after a delay, which made me wonder if I might be entering perimenopause.

It wasn’t just hormones, though. My VA business has grown exponentially this year — I now have 12 clients! On top of that, I juggle multiple roles in our businesses: as co-owner and Chief Marketing Officer of our hotel, restaurant, cafĂ©, and catering business, all while trying to keep up with the many business and personal development courses I’ve enrolled in. Somewhere along the way, I over-fatigued my already overloaded system.

Thankfully, I have my husband, Hanz, by my side. His unwavering support, his constant reminders to take breaks, and his effort to make sure my “love cup” is always filled to the brim helped me push through. Looking back at all that we’ve accomplished this year, the sadness has lifted. It’s been replaced by a deep sense of gratitude, hope, and joy for every big and small blessing that has come our way.

Here’s a month-by-month look back at the highlights of this unforgettable year. (Note to self: I hope to blog about each of these things in more detail this coming 2025…)

Continue reading →

Reflecting on the Adventures: My 2023 Holiday Recap

Leave a comment

As I sit down to recount the adventures of my 2023 holiday season, I must admit that this recap may come a bit late. It’s already March, and I actually created the vlog last month at a time when I was feeling a bit down. However, if you’re in need of some travel inspiration or just want to relive the magic, this is the video for you! It’s never too late to catch up on the fun! So, grab some popcorn and watch it here or down below:

The holiday season of 2023 was a whirlwind of adventure, relaxation, and memorable moments. As I sit down to reflect on the experiences of those days, I’m filled with a sense of gratitude for the opportunities I had to explore new places and create lasting memories. In this blog post, I’ll take you through my holiday recap, sharing highlights from my travels and the lessons I learned along the way.

Continue reading →

Unwrapping 2023 Halloween Magic: A Spooky Saga and a Dash of OCness!

Leave a comment

Hey, fellow festive souls! I know, I know—it’s December, and the twinkling lights of Christmas are already stealing the show. But hold on to your elf hats because I couldn’t just let the Halloween magic fade away without sharing the spine-chilling details of our most epic celebration yet!

You see, life threw a curveball my way in the form of family travels right after Halloween. The excitement of exploring foreign lands with my loved ones consumed me, leaving the tales of our bewitching Halloween hanging in the balance. Blame it on my OCness, but I couldn’t dive into our travel chronicles without first immortalizing the ghosts and goblins of October on my blog.

So, here’s the deal—I’m about to spill the cauldron of Halloween goodness, and once that’s done, I’ll be your guide through our international adventures. I promise, Christmas and New Year‘s tales will have their moment in the spotlight come 2024. But for now, let’s relive the most fun-filled Halloween that swept me off my feet!

Continue reading →

Oslob New Village Christmas 2022 Celebration

3 Comments

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

How’s everyone doing? I hope you’re all having a wonderful holiday season!

It’s been a year since Typhoon Odette hit us and just remembering that makes me feel all the more grateful because this Christmas, the weather has been good to us. Though it’s a bit cloudy and sometimes windy here in Oslob, at least so far, there’s no typhoon in the horizon. Thank you, God!

And so, we decided to celebrate our Christmas here at Oslob New Village. The original plan was actually to check in at a nice resort like what we used to do before in Cagayan de Oro but then we figured it would be more fun to celebrate it here at our own mini resort because we have Jona and Wenie (our staff at Oslob New Village) to celebrate with.

I created a vlog about it. Enjoy!

Continue reading →

Holiday Musings [and a Recap of Halloween]

1 Comment

Our 2022 is about to end. I’ve been reviewing my previous blog posts here and my life has really been “more of the same” kind of thing. Just like last 2019, when I wasn’t even able to blog about our Halloween celebration because of my jam-packed schedule at work, with motherhood, and family! And it’s happening again this time of the year!

Don’t get me wrong though — I DO LOVE OUR LIFE AND THE LIFESTYLE WE’VE BEEN LIVING — it’s been the best year so far — so many celebrations, so many happenings, so many blessings despite the sleepless nights from my VA work, being a homemaker, and homeschooling our now 7-year old kid! So, I’m gonna give myself a little pat on the back here…

Jen 1: “You’re such a superwoman, Mommy Jennie!”

Jen 2: “I know… I know…” 😉

Anyway, I am not going to let 2022 pass by without documenting here my most favorite holiday. For those who have just started to follow me here, Halloween is my most favorite and Christmas comes second. Though I like Christmas, Halloween is just more fun for me with all the trick or treating, candies, and costumes. Don’t you think? So though it’s already December and we’ve started decorating our little home resort for Christmas (you can check my FB page for updates), sharing my favorite holiday here with you this late is better than never, isn’t it?

But before that, let me just give you a rundown of our Halloween activities since Tuz was born. Re-reading my blog entries here
 Oh what a roller coaster ride it has been! So many trials, joys, financial troubles, and tribulations. From being in a long distance relationship with Mahal, to finally living together in my first dream home, to giving that up in exchange for living the hard kind of life at the farm, then back to city life and experiencing tiny home living and finally, living the beach kind of life which has always been my dream. It makes me all the more grateful for the life we have now because we are living our best life so far and we can’t wait for things to keep getting better and better


(2014, 2015, 2016) Nuvali Night Sky Cinema

(2016) Thoughts This Halloween

(2016) Nuvali Night Sky Cinema 2016 Family Event

(2017) Halloween 2017: How to Let Go of Attachments

(2018) Halloween 2018 – Transformative Lessons and Realizations

(2020) How to Celebrate Major Holidays During a Pandemic: Halloween Feature + a Guide

(2021) The Root of Happiness (And How I Found It Around Halloween)

Continue reading →

Typhoon Rai (Odette): Nightmare Before Christmas 

2 Comments

Just when you had everything planned out for the remainder of the year — your tasks, projects, finances, celebrations
 the biggest typhoon of your life hit you — metaphorically and literally. 

We were minding our usual business
 I was working and finishing my deadlines for the week and getting ready for client meetings. Mahal was busy with the resort. Everyone was working. Though we were getting news reports about an impending typhoon, upon checking, the eye of Typhoon Rai or locally known as Typhoon Odette won’t be hitting us but instead, it will head straight to Cebu City which is 3-4 hours away from where we are. We had plans of doing our Christmas shopping there that weekend so we figured that we just had to reschedule. Plus, we’ve already experienced so many kinds of weather conditions here that we became complacent. We felt confident that it’s just another one of those storms. There could possibly be a brownout (electricity getting cut off) that will last for an hour or two, or at the most overnight, but that was it. We didn’t do any kind of preparation at all — we didn’t save water; we didn’t charge our phones and electrical devices; we didn’t check if we still have enough gas; we didn’t buy supplies
 nothing. It was as if it was just another day in our beach kind of life. 

Continue reading →
unboxing Christmas gifts

5-Year Old Tuz Unboxes His Christmas Gifts [Christmas in the eyes of a Child]

2 Comments

This is the first Christmas that we’re giving Tuz Christmas gifts. In the past years, we would just spend Christmas at a hotel resort, party, feast, and be merry as a family with no gifts! Now that he’s five years old, we thought that he would be able to appreciate receiving gifts from Santa, just like it was the first time for us to give him birthday gifts when he turned 5 last November.

The idea for what gifts to give him (they were mostly toys for unstructured learning) came from a lawyer I spoke with last month. We were having an affidavit done to process Tuz’s last name and for Mahal to formally acknowledge him and use his last name (long story short, I had Tuz when I was still married to my ex so to avoid problems, his last name on his birth certificate is my last name and he has no middle name). I’ve been annulled for two years already (declared null & void ab initio – meaning the marriage never really happened in the first place and that I’ve always been single) so it’s just about time for us to start processing his paternity. Anyway, in the middle of chit-chatting with this lawyer, she suggested that we buy unstructured toys for Tuz
 toys that help him solve problems on his own
 He already has some of these toys at home but I bought some more as part of his independent homeschooling program. 

Here’s Tuz getting excited about Santa delivering his gifts and him finally opening them! I hope you enjoy the vid! Christmas is really for the kids!

Continue reading →
Christmas

Unexpected Christmas Wishes Coming True

3 Comments

It’s true what they say… when you least expect it, that’s when the magic happens. For the most part of the year, and the last 3 years before that, I thought we will have the same Christmas as before — we used to live in a tiny pad, so decorating our home for Christmas was not an option then. Instead, we’d go to a hotel resort here in Cagayan de Oro City and spend an overnight stay for both Christmas and New Year. Although on our first Christmas here in 2017, we celebrated it at our farm with our people. I’ve still yet to blog and vlog about those amazing hotel resort stays we did but I really plan to (next year, hopefully, as throwback features). Oh wait, I did blog about our Seda Centrio New Year Stay.  

Well, this year, (in a way, thanks to this pandemic — we got to transfer to a cozy house — looking at the silver lining here), my long overdue wish of spending Christmas in a beautiful, cozy home I personally decorated, hosting a party if possible, and just chilling and pigging out over a simple Noche Buena feast in our pajamas — finally came true!!! I’m so happy, I really can’t stop expressing it! I’ve been saying it on my social media posts and even offline to Mahal. I’m just really so happy. Hallelujah! 

Continue reading →
hustle and bustle

Hustle and Bustle of a Momtraneur’s Life

1 Comment

Hiiiii!!!! I’m back!!!! How’s the holiday season going for you so far?

Back in September, when I said my calendar was fully booked, I didn’t realize that that was nothing compared to what was ahead of me the following months — October, November, December. I know I’ve always been the busy kind of gal ever since I can remember (I’ve been a busy bee since my grade school years, lol!) but really, the past few months until today (and I predict including the coming days ahead until April at least!), have been nothing but a blur
 I’ve been ultra, mega, super, duper booked with activities, business stuff, family hooplas, usual work, and other extra-curricular activities that a week would pass me by and I don’t even feel like it’s been a week! One week is like one long day for me! And there are times when all I wanted was sleep because honestly, I don’t know anymore how I’m still alive with so much lack of sleep in my system. I feel like one day, I’ll just drop dead from all this overfatigue!

Continue reading →

successful online giveaway

Tuscany Highlands x Momtraneur Successful Online Giveaway + Yummy Musiga and Mushroom Polvoron Reviews

1 Comment

September is really one busy and blessed month! And it’s just the middle of the very first Christmas month this year
 3 more months to go… not that I want it to end since this is my most favorite quarter of every year. I just wake up every day with more zest, more energy, despite the million tasks I have to do because of the many exciting things happening for us. Praying to God to always guide us in this exciting endeavor we’re venturing into.

Anyway, I just want to update you with the latest happenings in our part of the world


Continue reading →

Christmas Giveaway

TUSCANY HIGHLANDS MUSIGA AND MUSHROOM POLVORON 2ND ANNIVERSARY and EARLY CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY!!! 

4 Comments

Hello September!

At last, the Ber months are here — my favorite last few months of the year because it means that Christmas is just around the corner, Jose Mari Chan’s Christmas in Our Hearts has started playing in the radio again, and of course, my most favorite holiday, Halloween, is happening before all the pre-Christmas and New Year hullabaloo! In short, I’m just in a very festive mood! Weeeee!!!

A huge part of this joy I’m feeling right now is the realization that I really am blessed despite all the seemingly stressful dramas I indulge myself in from time to time (lol). I am officially and legally single, I am loved, I have my babies with me, we are healthy, Mahal and I are growing our businesses and life together, and it’s all great!

And because of these blessings and the overwhelming gratitude I am feeling towards God and our life in general, I am also inspired to give back. We don’t have many material things as we have been living sort of a semi-minimalist lifestyle since I exchanged my big Alabang townhouse lifestyle to tiny pad living in Cagayan de Oro City, but we can definitely give some things to people, albeit strangers, we consider important to us, and these “some things” are no other than our farm products, for our precious target market, the very people we would like to keep serving through our organic mushroom food product offerings.

Continue reading →