2nd Pops-less Christmas

This will be our second Christmas without my Pops. I miss him very much especially during this season.  He had always been our Christmas designer at home: he assembled and decorated the Nativity Scene and Christmas tree; decked our veranda with a star-shaped lantern made of bamboo, Japanese paper and surround it with rice lights.  He made sure that you could feel the Christmas spirit in our home as early as first week of December.

Last year, we still decorated our home but it was very minimal--not as much as Pops did. Since he passed away early September last year, my mother and I also opted to celebrate Christmas eve at my sister's place as it was really gloomy and forlorn at home. It was never the same sans my Pops.

This year, however, I pledged myself to enliven up our home with the same decors that Pops used during the past Christmases that we had with him. His red lantern now hangs in our front porch filled with lights. Glittering gold, green and red garlands that he used for our Christmas tree now adorned our screen door. 

Though Pops is no longer around, I know that wherever he is (I believe he's in heaven with Jesus), he's happy to see that his lantern hangs brightly in our front porch. It's Christmas once again in our home.  Merry Christmas, Pops. Happy birthday, Lord Jesus!