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Hi Everyone,

Wishing you all a magical season from the tropics!

“Oh, you come from Cebu?” Stefan, a colleague from Florida asked.

“Yes.”

“I was just there last year,” Stefan said. “In fact, we spent Christmas there.”

“We visited Malapascua Island, up in the north. We’d just arrived and we were so tired, totally jet-lagged and on our way to the hotel. It was very late at night, pitch black and then suddenly, we saw all these lights flickering. There was a procession of people walking towards the church with a lighted candle. They were singing and praying. It was Christmas eve and it was the most beautiful thing I’ve experienced.”

“Misa de Gallo?” I asked. “It’s called a rooster’s mass in Spanish and Portuguese. We inherited this tradition from the Catholic Church. It’s the midnight mass on Christmas Eve. It’s a very important tradition for Filipinos.”

As I said that, I was transported back to my childhood, I could hear my mom singing.

“On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…” Mom was a crooner and was a graceful pianist.

“A partridge in a pear tree.” My brother Randy would join my mom strumming his guitar.

“On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…” My brothers, sister and I joined Randy and my mom. Randy sung joyously in the living room while my Mom pounded the piano.

We’d sing choruses until our throats were dry and our voice were hoarse; boisterous laughter ensued when we sang out of tune. We loved every second and our affinity for one another was so genuine.

Our house was laden with decorations and brightly colored lights that playfully danced in the dark. All day long the kitchen was busy with helpers preparing food, the aroma of our favorite Filipino dishes filled the whole house. Adobo, Pancit for long life and of course my favorite, Bulalo, the irresistibly rich beef stew!

“Merry Christmas,” was on everyone’s lips as we hugged one another and walked towards the dining room. The dining table was decked with goodies, imported fruits like apples, oranges and grapes. An array of local bananas and mangoes graced the table. Queso de Bola and smoked baked ham were a holiday must on every tabletop. Macaroni salad mixed with chicken breast, carrot bits, and pineapple was a yummy addition.

All these dishes were served in our finest porcelain collection matched with silver utensils, my mom kept them in the cupboard for special nights like these.

“I thought there was lumpia?” I asked while munching on some grapes.

“It evaporated.” Mom replied, she sipped on a select wine.

“Why didn’t you save some for me?” my brother Peter asked.

“Too late the hero.” I teased.

Lumpia, is our Filipino version of a ‘spring roll’, it was always the first to disappear from the table and was gone the moment it was served.

As we sat around the table, exchanging silly banter and catching up, we’d surreptitiously checked the big clock on the wall awaiting midnight.

“What time are we leaving?” My sister Conni asked, sneaking a glance again and helping herself to some Leche flan, a Filipino dessert version of Crème caramel.

We were decked out in our new holiday fineries, we’d received especially for this occasion, and then we’d meet-up with friends and family at the church for midnight mass.

Snacks were prepared after the service, our doors were opened well to visitors, likewise the neighbors opened their houses to us. We would visit the ‘hood’ and wish our neighbors “Merry Christmas” and of course, sample their goodies and see how they were different from our own.

Gifts were strewn around the Christmas tree; we couldn’t wait to open gifts after the mass. These were some of my fondest memories of Christmas.

The season was one of the rare times when my family were all together in one place. We were not your typical traditional Filipino family! My Dad was often away on business. We rarely saw him, maybe three or four times a year, so it was always a special event when he showed up. But this was prior to the family diaspora; this was one of the happiest times of my life. it was when I still believed our big family was intact.

These days, Christmas is for children, but its still all about family! In the Philippines it’s no different. They never let you forget about the Christmas season. When you escape from the tropical heat to the cool air conditioning of the malls early in October, you are greeted by Christmas songs and confronted by a looming Christmas tree as soon as you enter the building, the tree is sometimes as large as a two-story house and strategically located in the lobby so that selfies can easily be captured with a bit of Christmas spirit in the background to take home with you.

“Jingle bells, jingle bell, Jingle all the way...” or some other song will run incessantly in the malls, and an exaggerated tempo! My husband says it might as well be saying “Shop shop shop, buy buy buy, shopping all the way.” He grew up in the US and is kinda jaded.

In Cebu, by November carolers would show up at your door belting out their Christmas playlist and asking for your donation. They’d have already given an envelope sent a week prior to their performance. Fundraising for causes is a big deal during the holidays; from a repertoire of professional singers, roving church choirs, to kids who add a Christmas jingle to their begging as they go from car to car caroling in traffic. It's not uncommon to see groups of street urchins who add Christmas songs to their begging pitch as they approach your table while dining in open restaurants. This scene seriously has more ‘Charles Dickens’ in it than any Dickens fair because these street urchins are the real deal and it will melt the hardest of hearts!

And of course, it’s always this time of the year that the crime rate increases. You’d dare not walk your dog or roam the streets of your neighborhood at dawn. If these are desperate times, then the holiday season is the most desperate season. It's the peak time for break ins. Its not surprising, everyone wants to give a special Christmas to their families, everyone has a kid in their life who dreams of presents under their Christmas tree.

I don’t want to lose that lesson in all the glitz and glamour of the holiday Wasn’t Christ born in a lowly manger?! There are lots of things disputed about the birth of Christ: was it really a virgin birth, was it in Winter or Summer, maybe it didn’t even happen at all, but what is seldom disputed is the poverty of Mary and Joseph, or that they were immigrants on the run from the authorities.

I don’t think you need to be especially religious to recognize that a ‘manger’ is a feeding trough for cattle, or that Jesus was born in a barn, laid in a feeding crib as a bassinet, surrounded by farm animals and old wandering men for his baby shower. The scene immortalized in every household variation of the Nativity can be meaningful for anyone with an ounce of compassion.

If Thanksgiving is a time for gratitude for all the gifts you have received in your life, Christmas is a time for sharing those gifts with others. It might be something as simple as a song, a token gift, or a word of encouragement. It might be reminding someone you love them in word or deed. Whatever you are doing for Christmas, remember to share in kindness with those less fortunate than yourself not just with those you know and love!

Christmas is reuniting with family, festivities, and the exchanging of gifts, but while everyone is having a good time, taking a break from work-a-day life, hibernating and reassessing, remember others! It’s a time for reflecting and recharging to be able to greet the new year with new goals and aspirations.

I’m taken back in a melancholic mood, remembering simpler times when life was more free of care, as mom rocked at the piano, and my family sang to our hearts' content and neighbors would open their homes to strangers. Elaborate homes were welcoming, sharing wonderful delicacies and humbler homes with warmth and simple treats, had gone to even greater troubles to share!

How is your season going so far?

I love and support Indie Authors

Through my writing journey, I have met a lot of Indie Authors with amazingly colorful lives from my favorite FB network group, WLM (We Love memoirs), one of them is Frances Tse Ardika, launching her debut novel, ‘Tresna, Gate of Love’.

The book chronicles her true life story and her journey to become the first foreigner to become a Balinese Temple Priestess.

1. Tell me about yourself.

Originally from Canada, I met my future husband on my third day in Bali on October 8, 2000, and in the years that follow, I became the first foreigner to become a Balinese Pemangku (Temple Priestess).

Prior to settling in Bali, I lived and worked in Hong Kong, London, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Toronto. Together with my husband, Adi, we own Taksu Bali Travel & Weddings, Tresna Bali Cooking School, and we have two lovely ‘Little Wooden Cottages’ in Ubud, Bali. When Covid-19 hit Bali in March 2020, we started “Feed Bali” to give 20 families around our cooking school enough food from our gardens and the local market to last for two-weeks. Shockingly, ‘Feed Bali’ grew exponentially with support from thousands of donors from all over the world. ‘Feed Bali’ has provided over half a million meals to feed 5000 families, built a house, dug a well, started Goat Farms (Baa Baa Goat program) and its long-term ‘Adopt A Family’ sponsorships. We’re now an official non-profit called Yayasan Tresna Bali Jaya. Tresna translates to LOVE in Balinese.

I’m proud mom of Santi, my fellow bookworm and Como, my loyal rescue pup.
I love to share my deep knowledge of places to eat, play, pray and stay in Bali with like-minded foodies and travelers. And I hope one day to have the biggest book club in Bali!

2. Synopsis of your book/series in one sentence.

TRESNA, Gate of Love is the first memoir in the series, Chronicles of a Balinese Priestess: full of hope, courage – and even a touch of black magic – my memoir is a vivid, inside account of the unexplored beauty, culture, and food of the “real” Bali in the early 2000s, before the age of digital nomads and Instagram influencers.

3. Why did you write these books?

I’m writing my series: Chronicles of a Balinese Priestess to give readers a rare in depth look at real Balinese life, a side of Bali that tourists and even locals don’t have access to. My journey here is unique as I lived in a Balinese family compound and am the only foreigner to become a Balinese Priestess. My first memoir focuses on the journey of choosing a very different life path to what I and my family/friends expected of me.

4. What message or lessons did you want your readers to take from your books?

I hope that my memoir inspires readers to follow their heart and life path. And have the courage to live their fullest lives.

5. Are you writing at the moment?

Yes, I’m writing my second memoir, TILEM, Gate of Darkness which continues the journey back to my hometown of Toronto.

6. If you are not writing, what are you doing?

If I’m not typing away on computer, it’s likely because I’m at temple for the hundreds of ceremonies where I have duties such as preparing Holy water, blessing our community after praying and conducting ceremonies for my God, Barong. I also spend a few hours each day for ‘Feed Bali’.

When I have free time, I love to bake cream scones or wrap dumplings with my daughter and of course, READ! Every morning, I try to walk in Adi’s garden with Como at my heels.

7. What advice can you give to emerging Indie authors?

I encourage them to finish a crappy first draft, not editing at all until they’re finished the book. Then, go back and do several stages of revisions. And hire the best editors and cover designers that they can afford. This is crucial. I took “90 Days to Done” with Racheal Herron which is how I was able to write my 95,000 word manuscript in 90 days. In total, my book was self-published in 9 months from start to finish because I gave myself a hard deadline on my birthday. It was a massive learning curve, but I read a lot from books and YouTube and learned from great teachers.

8. What are you reading right now?

The last book I read was “Crying in H Mart” by Michelle Zauner - an excellent memoir.

9. If you were a fruit or a vegetable, what would you want to be and why?

My daughter says I’m like a peach - all soft and fuzzy but with a strong pit. I guess that seed in me is always sprouting new ideas.

Check out more of my author interviews here.

Don’t forget your reviews!

If you love a book, please leave a review.
It is your gift to the Author.

My 5 star review for “TRESNA Gate of Love: Book 1, posted at Amazon and Goodreads.

‘TRESNA: Gate of Love, Memoir One (Chronicles of a Balinese Priestess)’ was something of a surprise to me. I couldn’t put it down! It’s the story of the first foreigner to became a Temple Priestess in Bali. Frances Tse Ardika is a wonderful storyteller, and she shares about her journey from being a start-up founder, living a fast paced life living in Canada, Hong Kong, Japan and San Francisco and and goes to Bali for rest and relaxation only to wind up meeting Adi who would become her husband. He had a decidedly different upbringing from her. Isn’t that just like life, talking about synchronicity.

This is Frances’ debut novel! Her writing style is honest, direct and witty as she bares her soul in the book. She wrestles with her strength and insecurities, doubts and fears, and dreams and ambitions. Though she describes Bali in great detail, it is by no means merely a travelogue. She clearly has the keys, where no foreigner or even locals can dare to follow, but this book is something more.

Aside from taking us to Bali, she also introduced us to Balinese cuisine, giving our tastebuds and imaginations a Balinese sampling we can relish and experience vicariously through her narrative. And lest I forget, it’s also a love story of how she met her husband, and how they came together against all odds. Thank you Frances, for your courage in writing this beautiful book and sharing Bali with us from your eyes. I’m eager to read Book 2!

You may get your copy here.

More reviews here.

Check out the review I received for my book.

5.0 out of 5 stars A well written and gripping read

Reviewed in Australia on 7 November 2021

I found this book a gripping read. After her Dad is arrested and imprisoned under suspicion of conspiracy, Mita is left alongside her siblings and a series of housekeepers and borders to cope with the sudden absence of her Dad. The situation is worsened by her Mum's decision to move to Manila leaving the children behind in Cebu. I felt what a deeply heart-breaking situation this was for a young girl to find herself in. Mita escapes the world around her through her imagination and writing as she struggles with the condemnation of her community and peers. A solid 5 stars from me.

Featured Books

I joined a team of Indie Authors and we made a deal to help promote each other. The logic behind is, we are all in this together. Here’s my side of the deal.

A Glimpse into the Heart of Victoria
Amazing Grace in little moments

Get the story!

Get the book here!

The Ultimate Guide to Seasickness Relief

Buy on Amazon.

Sunset Collection

Addicted to sunsets!
Here’s some sunset from our side of the world.
I feel blessed to enjoy sunsets like these on a daily basis.
Do send me your sunset pics from your end of the globe,
where ever you are.

Thanks again for your time, ‘til my next newsletter. I would love to hear from you, shoot me an email or visit me on my website!
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Have a great week everyone, be genuine, pursue your art,
and live your truth!

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