Dear Loved Ones,

Pleasant Greetings from Sacramento, CA! We praise and thank God for all the blessings of the year as we start the season of Advent in preparation for the Christmas season. Our Thanksgiving holidays wer

e celebrated extra-special and very

memorable this year for various milestones in our family – new jobs for both my daughter Sarah and son Sean, new home for Sarah and Max, good health, peace, love in the family and many, many more. We do praise and thank GOD for His love, kindness and generosity!!!

On our monthly Catholic Lunch Club held on Nov. 19 at the Radisson Hotel, the guest speaker was Mr. Dick Lyles – Host, EWTN’s Catholic Business Hour, CEO of Leadership Legacies and Origin Entertainment, and New York Times best-selling author of more than 18 books. He discussed the topic ‘Authentic Catholic Leadership in Today’s Culture’, and how it impacts our lives. As usual, I got a signed copy of his newest book, Pearls of Perspicacity. On our Bible Study class, we culminated the Adventures in Matthew weekly series on the third week of the month with lunch gathering at the home of our leader Claude, he enjoys hosting our group. Our 2^nd Saturday Opus Dei ladies group had more Recollection attendees than usual in preparation for the Advent season. Other highlights for the month are as follows:

· Sean and I opted to travel to the east coast for the 4-days Thanksgiving holiday week-end with Sarah. We took the Nov. 24, 10:40 evening flight out of SAC to Newark via Atlanta. Since we decided our trip only 3-days before, tickets were more expensive and we got the last back row seats, and were anxious about airport security checks by the TSA. To my surprise, SAC airport security check was very laid-back, it took only a few seconds – no pat downs. We arrived Newark, NJ airport at 9:30a, were met by Sarah and had our sumptuous Turkey lunch. Later in the evening, we joined friends and family for dinner at Francis / Tita Dompor’s residence for dinner;

· Started Black Friday shopping day to the Garden state Mall very early with parking almost full so it was smart of Sarah to decide for valet parking. Since NJ do not charge sales tax, shoppers from NY and other states flock the area, so imagine the crowd of shoppers. I sat in a sofa at the Nordstrom entrance while Sarah and Sean shopped till they dropped; then I helped carry the packages. Sean shopped for snowboarding gear at Sports Authority. What he expected to spend in CA, he got all the items for half the price or much lower. It was truly worth shopping in NJ.

· Saturday, Nov 27, we took the early morning train for NY Penn Station to meet up with his Ninong Francis Catayong, then to proceed to his Huntington Station, Long Island to visit with his family. They (3 kids: Kay, Rey and Len, and couple Francis and Mareng Nory) were home for the holidays, and it was our reunion after more than 5 years, so there was a lot of catching up stories to do, mostly how they grown so fast and how they were all doing in their lives! We had lunch at the Best Buffet – food was so great. By 2:00p, the 4 of us (Nory, Francis, Sean and I) were on our way to NY to meet up with my nephew Rothmer and his fiancée Lyn at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. With so heavy traffic and people all over the place, we alighted from our taxi at Rockefeller Plaza and had to inch our way with the large crowd ogling at the sights of ice skating, tall buildings with holiday displays/ decors. NY is surely the place to be – melting pot of various nationalities! Despite the sea of humanity, we were able to accomplish our objectives and Sean took beautiful pictures of all the sceneries. We took the 6:15p train back to NJ, where we joined Sarah and Max with their friends Dr. David and Donna for dinner. They also had drinks, coffee and pastries, with good conversation to cap the day;

· Our experience with TSA security at Newark airport on our way back to SAC via Salt Lake City was another interesting story. We started on the standing queue at 4:30am and finished with the check by 6:00a – a full 1.5 hours of standing. They made 2 columns of line, but there was only 1 scanner, After going through the scanner, you go through line of 3 steps and given a pat down (a black girl touched my bra and legs, a flash with a cloth on my middle finger was done and brought to a screen, then after being given an up sign, I was okayed to go. Looking back, I could see the long lines piling up. It was okay to be assured of safety and security, but I hope they improve on the system. It is understandable why they are so strict at Newark because critical incidents originated there!

· There was heavy snowstorm when our plane landed at Salt Lake City so the place was all white. As our plane for SAC was preparing to leave at 11:30a, we spent 30 minutes more for the de-icing process before we lifted on air. I learned that other later planes were unable to leave or postponed departure. We were so blessed to arrive at SAC airport by 1:30pm, able to attend our Sunday obligation Mass!

Attached are 4 group photos of recent reunions with family and friends. Let us continue to pray for our country and people. Peace and Joy to You and God Bless Us All!

Much love and Best Regards!!!

SUSAN BG