Our Christmas!

Well Christmas Day has come and gone. It wasn't as bad as I had thought it was going to be. Allan and Emily tried to predict what time the tears would start for me, but they both lost because they never came. Our Christmas morning was interspersed with opening a few gifts then talking to family on the Vonage phone. We had great fun being silly with my nieces who were a little envious that Emily and Will were opening gifts. In Georgia it was still Christmas Eve and they wouldn't be opening gifts until after church the next day. It was a little weird that Christmas was over and our kids in bed before most of the US even awoke.
So if you celebrated Christmas in the Philippines what would your day have been like? Well, Christmas celebrations begin Christmas Eve. Families stay up until midnight and welcome in Christmas with a few fireworks and a feast. It is a time for family reunions. Families gather together for a midnight meal and stay up most of the night, returning home in the wee hours to sleep most of Christmas Day. ( **Spoiler Warning for those who read our blog to their young kids)For most Filipinos Santa is just a decoration like snowmen and elves. Santa does not visit most children in the Philippines. Kids are given a few small things from their lola and lolo(grandma & grandpa) and aunts and Uncles. Christmas is more about gathering with family and eating than gifts. (***end of spoiler) So if you were a Filipino what would you eat on this night? Of course no meal is complete without rice, but added to that are ham, and queso de bola which is literally a ball of edam cheese that comes in thick red wax. A special treat is fruit cocktail which seems strange with all the wonderful fresh fruit available here, but they use this for many treats including halo halo(described in an earlier blog). Another treat is to also have spaghetti. So did we Gilmers follow Filipino tradition?.... Well no, we mostly stuck to our own family's traditions. The kids opened one present on Christmas eve and after a supper of lasagna we gathered for a final time around the advent wreath to light the Christ candle, pray and sing some carols. It was very nice. The kids were then bundled off to bed with visions of Star Wars in Will's head. God gave us a wonderful gift as the temperature reached the lowest it has been since we've been here--68.4. On Christmas morning we lit the advent wreath candles again and ate the same breakfast casserole that I have eaten on Christmas morning since I was a kid. If you had been at our Christmas Dinner it might have strayed a little from tradition, but our family has never been locked into a specific meal on Christmas. We opted not to have the Filipino ham. It is not what my kids call "real ham" and I wasn't sure we would like the taste. Instead we had a crown pork roast. I remember my gourmet Aunt Lynn had that one year when Allan and I were first married and when I saw it in the supermarket I knew it would be a fun display! We also had macaroni and cheese for Will, twiced baked potatoes, some of our stash of greenbeans sent from the US, carrot souffle, and rolls. Of course for dessert we had some Christmas cookies and treats.
Will was thrilled with the Star Wars legos he received from the US. I wish our parents could have seen how excited he was with his Star Wars gifts. Perhaps this picture gives them a glimpse! Hope your Christmas was as Merry as ours was!






Dont forget Emily who was thrilled with things to "pamper" herself and a new 220V CD player to replace the 110V one we left at Mimi and Pop's!

Merry Christmas from the Gilmers!

Our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

Remember the old peanuts Christmas special and the sad little tree Charlie Brown buys for the Christmas play. This year we can relate a little to those disappointed kids. Christmas trees in the Philippines have come a long way in recent years so our tree is actually very nice looking. Artifical trees are the only option and we were told to buy early to get what we wanted. So back in September Allan and I bought our new Christmas tree. We of course needed new lights since we left our 110V lights back in the US. When we opened our packages of lights we discovered that the cheap lights sold at Wlamart are high quality compared to what we have available here. Some of our strings were so dim that they barely glowed. We had not purchased enough lights to cover the tree so Thanksgiving weekend we attempted to buy a couple more strands of clear lights. Unfortunately (or maybe not) all of the stores seemed to be out of clear lights until we came to one hardware store. They had a more expensive strand still available. We bought 2 and came home to finish decorating the tree. These lights were much better quality and brighter than the others. Everything was fine though until the last few days. It seems the cheap strands are dropping like flies. Every day another stand goes out. It looks like the bulbs are all burned. Tonight we are down to only the 2 more expensive strands. As portions of our tree have slowly gone dark, we can do nothing, but laugh about it. It seems somewhat typical of quality control here. This picture was taken before the bottom strands went dark. I guess the old saying is true --"you get what you pay for" and as my mom says we will have to just "chalk this up to experience". I guess next year we will have to invest in new lights and I can tell you which ones we wont buy. If only Snoopys dog house was here so we could take the lights from it! Merry Christmas!

Christmas Box

In the old days of missions, Missionaries left their homes, if not for a lifetime, at least for long years. Travel took months instead of a really long day and the lands they moved to were completely foreign with not much available from home. Churches in those days used to gather up new and used items from home and send a box or usually a "missionary barrel" out to the folks on the field. These days missionaries usually return home every 3-4 years and it is not unusual for them to jet set back and forth to their home country in between times. We have many American products imported. Even so, our family at home wanted to send the kids Christmas gifts. This actually worked out well since Will wants Star Wars legos and legos are not sold here. (shh-Don't tell him what he's getting) So last week, Santa came a little early. 7 weeks before, my parents had shipped out a box filled with gifts and the "cracks" were filled with things that we are missing from home and can't get here. Two such things were cans of green beans and cans of green chilis. Em loves canned green beans and they are not to be found in the stores or market. Allan and I love Mexican food and while we can find other products we requested some green chilis to make some special dishes we love. Other items of note that we recieved were: decaf coffee, pecans, ink for our printer, and the ingredients to make my Aunt Linda's Brunswick stew. We have had a great time with all the little surprise extras the family stuck in and the kids are anxiously awaiting Christmas morning. It has made our first Christmas away from home a little more enjoyable. We have also enjoyed getting Christmas cards from home and some surprises from my best friend Amy. For years Emily, Will and I have watched "White Christmas". Our copy was VHS though and we left it in the US since VHS tapes don't survive here. Em was particularly distressed by this and so one of the surprises sent by Amy was truly a blessing for Emily. We gathered close tonight and watched and sang along with the DVD version of "White Christmas". The wind was blowing and with the fan turned on it was almost cold. The kids snuggled under a blanket, but Will did have to take off his shirt to be comfortable.

A Box full of gifts from home!

A pantry full of green beans and green chilis!

Christmas DVD's sent from my friend Amy!

Christmas in the Philippines!

For those of you who like to drive around looking at Christmas lights, perhaps you should plan to look a little farther next year. Filipinos love Christmas and they really love lights. The traditional holiday decoration in the Philippines is a Parol. All through the Christmas season, star-shaped lanterns can be found hanging outside homes and along the streets of cities and small provincial towns, farms and fishing villages. Parols were traditionally made from simple materials like bamboo sticks, Japanese rice paper, crepe paper, and a candle or coconut oil-lamp for illumination. Modern parols can be made from paper or plastic with a single buld or strands of Christmas tree lights inside. Around Manila, we see many parols made of Capiz shell. The parol is a recognizable symbol to all Filipinos and represents the star of Bethlehem that guided the Three Wise Men to Jesus. The parol is a tradition from l0ng ago when the Philippines was controled by the Spanish. It was originally intended as an important part of the 9-day Misas de Aguinaldo or Gift Masses that happen early each morning until Christmas Eve. After coming home from Mass, instead of putting the lantern away in the house, Filipinos would proudly hang it outside the window. At night, they would illuminate their parols to display their art. They would then walk around and see each others' work. While celebrating Christmas here begins with the -ber months--meaning decorations and Christmas music begin showing up in September, the holidays are officially celebrated beginning the 16th of December. People all over the Philippines woke up at 4 am this morning to go to Mass and begin the 9 day Misas de Aguinaldo.


A Parol made from Capiz shells













Plastic Parols for sale in Manila












If you would like more info about Parols or think it would be fun to make one for yourself (what a great homeschool project!) or would like some great coloring sheets of parols in the Philippines, you can find it at the following website: http://www.myparol.com/myparol/index.html

National Geographic

You may not know that Allan had the opportunity to work in Afghanistan last winter. He was chosen by the residency director along with friend and fellow resident Steven Durocher to work in Kabul. They saw some patients, but their main job was to help teach and train Afghan Doctors. One night while they were out eating a National Geographic photographer took their picture. He was there doing a story on NGO's (non-governmental organizations) doing relief work in a war torn region. We filed that away in the back of our mind and asked my parents who get Nat. Geo to keep an eye out. Well this morning we recieved a call from Rob, a friend in Greenwood, who had seen it while flipping through magazines at the store. We called and had mom look on page 36 and when she got there her expression was....."that's Allan!" She scanned and sent the page to us and here it is. I am sure it breaks all kind of copyright laws to post it on the blog. When discussing blogging it, Emily said, "Isn't that illegal?" Will's response..."Not in this country!" He has really begun to fit in well with Filipino society. Well illegal or not hope you enjoy seeing Al in the magazine.

Enjoying our new EKG

Scott and I are trying out some of our new equipment. Here Scott has our clinic's pastor hooked up for his first EKG. I had just completed one for Scott during our first trial test. Fortunately, the EKG can operate on 220 volt which will make using it easier. Implementing this in our clinic will save a patient about 1/2 to 1 days pay (which is their cost paid if we have to send them elsewhere to get an EKG).

New Equipment and supplies

Back on Nov 2, I mentioned a shipment of supplies that was being donated from a closed hospital in the U.S. The problem mentioned with part of the shipment has not been resolved yet. However, a large part of the equipment and supplies has arrived. This has been a great encouragement and we have enjoyed unpacking and sorting through the boxes. Among the new equipment: EKG, teaching microscope, new hematcrit centrifuge, surgical and orthopedic equipment, and lots of various medicines. Some of the equipment is planned for future expansion, possibly into surgical Obstetrics. Neither Scott nor I currently do surgical OB but another physician who may be joining us soon does C-sections. I know this would be a big improvement in care for the Nurse-midwives who run a birthing center just down the street from our clinic. In the meantime, I can't wait to incorporate the new EKG, microscope and other stuff into our daily practice.