My "Forced" Holiday in Photos

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. However, I don't really view Christmas day as a non-working holiday because, well, since last year, I find myself working on holidays. That's the way of a work-at-home mom slash freelancer! While we have flexible schedules, the downside is that the system goes like this: no work, no pay. But I'm not complaining at all!

This year, though, I took a "forced" holiday on December 25. Yuri's yaya, Honey, and I already came up with the decision to work that day since she already went home to her province for her birthday last December 9. However, that morning, she had a bad headache and needed to rest. So she rested, while I took up nanny duties - and did a lot of stuff!

Good morning!

There is such a thing as post- Christmas eve shopping. Ang daming tao!

I brought home three big shopping bags - parang hindi nanggaling sa Noche Buena!

My new discovery - Dolcetto Wafers. These are not all ours; we already have enough sweets in the house. But these are delicious!

Yuri's yayu also had a pahabol gift because toys were on sale in Gaisano Mall #bakitngayonlang?!

My Reading Toddler

It's no secret: I want to raise a bookworm.

I'm not asking for a genius kid who always tops his classes - although that certainly wouldn't hurt, Lord! However, if I have to choose between a child who can memorize stuff in the blink of an eye and a curious child with an insatiable appetite for reading, I would very gladly choose the latter.

Growing up, I was known as the neighborhood bookworm. I was not the typical Filipino child who grew up in the streets. To be completely honest with you, I don't even know how to play certain Filipino games like patintero (try not to laugh and try not to cry). But I was a happy child in the company of my books.

In my childhood home, when I wasn't sleeping in my own room yet, my mom thoughtfully converted the spare room into a little library. It housed all the books I would read all day. Sure, I watched TV (a lot), but I remember being scolded for turning on the TV without really watching it. Yep, you guessed it. I was reading a book.

This time, I want Yuri to experience how it feels to be deeply engrossed in a story. I even dream about characters sometimes! To do that, I know I should raise him surrounded by books. It's a good thing we keep all the books and never give them away. Just take a look at these photos:

We even kept some of my childhood story books:

I admit I haven't been so vigilant about building a literature-rich environment for Yuri before he became a toddler. I did not maintain regular reading time. However, I am starting now. I think it's not too late as Yuri is still 20 months old. I spotted an old shelf we had that only housed boxed DVD sets. We got them all out and placed Yuri's books in it:

We only have a few books for now:

There are only a few books now, and most of them are hand-me-downs. Some of them are my sister's old books, and some were my old board books. Yes, my own board books survived the years, thanks to my mother. Pero wag kayo. We have around 20 books waiting to be opened come Christmas Day. Thanks, Daddy! I'm so excited to fill the shelves with them!

I want to raise a reader, a bookworm. I hate clutter, give me this mess any day:

How do you raise your children to love books?

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Digital Reading Ba Kamo?

I read a post on Twitter a while back saying that if it weren't for Twitter, we would all be sleeping 4 hours earlier.

I beg to disagree. While I am an avid tweeter, it doesn't really take much of my time. Scroll down lang ng scroll down, retweet, reply, favorite. It doesn't take an hour. Now, what takes much of my time is digital reading. If it weren't for digital readers and apps, I would be sleeping, maybe, 6 hours earlier!

I have three main reading apps: Kindle, Zinio, and Pocket. Actually, the Zinio app is not compatible to my current phone (must.buy.iPad.), so I do the reading of the magazines on my laptop. Meanwhile, the other two apps are in my phone, which contributes to my lack of sleep for the past months. Whew!

(And that's beside Instagram ha.)

Here are some screenshots of the apps, which I took months ago. This means there are four times more content now. Sigh. I am hopeless. By the way, these are the screenshots of the computer counterparts of the apps because, well, they look better than the ones in my phone haha!

My Kindle Library

Priceless finds: Thanks to social media (I forgot which one specifically), I was able to score free books from Filipino writers. Months and months ago, I visited Dennis Sy's website and found out he's offering the Kindle version of his book, Rich for Life, for free! Of course, given my avid interest in all things personal finance and God's part in it, I immediately took advantage of the offer!

Months later, I think I found out from Twitter that Rose Fausto's book, Raising Pinoy Boys, for free! Also on Kindle! Gah, I was so elated because I know I need that book. Obviously, I went to Amazon right away to purchase. Trust me: it's one of the best books any Filipino mom should read.

PS: All of the books in my library are *whispers* freeeee.

My Zinio Reading List

I totally depend on Zinio for my magazine consumption. Not that I am addicted to magazines. I only read through magazines for additional information, so I don't really feel the need to subscribe to one. Nevertheless, occasionally, Zinio sends a $5 coupon (do you receive these coupons, too?) to my email, so who am I not to take advantage? Of course, Smart Parenting and Good Housekeeping are two of my top picks.

Priceless find: Smart Parenting Yaya Manual! I've been looking for one forever, and finding a digital copy at Zinio finally ended my search. Plus, since I used a coupon to purchase it, it's totally fuh-ree!

Aside from Kindle and Zinio, my regular reading app would be Pocket. No, you don't need to purchase any book or magazine on this one. Instead, this is where the blog posts and articles that I don't have time to read during the day go. When working, I would inevitably come across an interesting post that seems to long. Solution? Save to Pocket! Of course, I also have the Chrome extension to get this to work!

No priceless find here since everything naman is just downloaded for free. But looking at the screenshot above, now you know where I save the recipes I discover! :-)

How about you? What are your reading apps? What apps are you addicted to?

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