Merry Christmas from Marketman & Family!!!

Mrs. MM, the Teen, all of the crew, our chocolate labrador and I wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas!!! I wish we could somehow invite all of you to a collective global holiday eyeball, but the best I can think of right now is to share this massive Christmas floral arrangement with readers from around the world. I think long-time reader Socky summed it up best when she once said something like it has “a heightened sense of the fabulous”… This recycled arrangement surprised even me, and it is rapidly rising up my list of all-time favorites.

If you read this earlier post, you might have recognized the “base” for the arrangement, made up of 6 foot tall curly willow branches, pussywillows and eucaplyptus leaves. I don’t typically make many arrangements with lots of leaves, but when it is something of this scale, sort of “lobby” worthy, you need lots of “fillers” and things to give the arrangement shape… When the flowers of the original arrangement had “passed away” after about 6 days… I thought it might be a good idea to try and recycle the base and do another arrangement in time for Christmas Eve.

It surprised me how the addition of just 3-4 kinds of blooms or berries, to exactly the same base, resulted in a very different arrangement altogether. This one really seems to draw the eye, and if you sit or stand anywhere in the living room, you can’t help but look at it now and again. It almost, just almost, grabs attention away from the Christmas tree.

After an early morning trip to Dimasalang, I ended up adding a few stems of stargazer lilies (the longest I could find) that are white and red or pink. These bring fragrance, height and large blooms to the arrangement.

Though I had NEVER used them before, I decided to get dozens of “gloriosa” lilies, a climbing vine cousin of the more common large lilies I am familiar with. These are elegant, soft, graceful and incredibly well-priced at say PHP12-15 a stem with multiple blooms. But they have this unnerving quality of their leaves and tendrils automatically grabbing onto other leaves and branches, almost as if they were alive. It’s weird and wacky, but the blooms and color are stunning… Add several dozen long-stemmed red roses and it all starts to look so very Christmassy…

We added some hypericum berries in pinkish red, just to add some variety, and all in all, it was an easy, relatively economical way to spruce up a very large arrangement.

It looked good during the daytime, and it looks nice at night, as well.

So another year draws to a close, and it has been a wonderful 7 years maintaining and feeding this blog. I feel I know many of you, but have never even met you. There have been ups and downs this year, but always food, entertaining, produce, kitchen experiments and an occasional rant. I thank you for your continued visits and wonderful comments (not so wonderful ones simply deleted… :) and for being a part of this somewhat bizarre on-line community with friends from around the globe. From our family to yours, a truly Merry Christmas / Maligayang Pasko!

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Marketman

Marketman is a well-traveled management consultant who loves buying, cooking and eating good food. Read more »

76 Responses

  4. A blessed Christmas and more blessings in the coming year! Thank you for your “bottomless” generosity :D.

  5. Happy Holiday WISHES , MM…to MRS.MM, MS. TEEN and to all your CREW and everyone world wide!!!!…and as Santa would say…and to all a good night!

    May the coming year bring PEACE, JOY to everyone and to all those who are experiencing difficult times, I do believe there is light at the end of the tunnel and a reason for everything.

    Thank you, MM for a very memorable 2011…for all you have shared with us…recipes, travel, rants, fishpan stories, friends I have made thru your blog (never expected to have soooooooo many friends all of a sudden!)

  7. Those flowers are so beautiful! MALIGAYAN PASKO!!! We look forward to having our first Philippine Christmas back home next year….in shorts! (^_^) We’re pretty excited. May you all have a VERY blessed new year!!!!

  8. Merry Christmas MM and family, and crew! Included in my thanksgiving prayer for all the blessings of 2011 is your generosity in sharing so many wonderful things in your blog…and wishes that you and your family will continue to be blessed this coming 2012, knowing that your readers’ lives also get enriched and empowered with your generosity! Have a great time welcoming the New Year!

  10. Merry Christmas to MM and family, the busy,behind-the-scenes Crew, and to fellow-readers of this blog…big hug to all!!!!!!

  11. Awesome, MM!

    Merry Christmas to you and your family. And thank you for sharing so much to us your readers thru your blog.

  13. Good tidings, peace and good health to you and the rest of the MarketManila world…

    Thank you for not only feeding the blog but feeding us with ideas, thoughts, insights and values.

    Merry Christmas!

  14. WOW! Merry Christmas MM Mrs. MM Teen crew and labrador, and fellow MM readers1

    Many thanks for the generosity and painstaking work shared with us through your blog!

  15. Maligayang Pasko MM and family and the dynamic MM blog family!!!!! Woooohooo…have fun this holiday!!

  17. MM, Mrs. MM, the Teen, all your crew and to the “family and friends” of the marketmanila.com community, wherever part of the world you may be, a warm, safe, happy and blessed holidays to you!

  20. Wishing you, family and crew… a holiday season filled with peace and happiness.Thank you for your generosity in sharing, all year long .The Christmas floral arrangement is Awe-inspiring!! Awesome. To sister which contributes so much on the blog.. Happy Holidays and Thanks!!

  23. Merry Christmas MM, Mrs MM, the Teen and MM’s crew! It’s been a great, wonderful year reading, re-reading all the contents of this blog whether food, tips, flowers, trips and rants… it’s been a pleasure reading and looking forward to a more fruitful year!

  25. Merry Pandesal-Jamon-Queso-de-Bola Christmas to you MM, Mrs MM, Crew and fellow readers! Wishing you all Good Health, Great Food and Glorious Days ahead! From Singapore with Love, Mimi and my family

  27. MM, would you consider posting a pic of your chocolate lab please??? Labs are the absolute cutest. Our black lab was as greedy as they came too! And he was always up to no good, especially during Christmas when the food never seemed to run out haha!

  28. Merry Christmas MM and family! Merry Christmas too to my fellow readers. So that’s the name of those berries. We’ve bought some in Dimasalang too without knowing what the name of those berries were. Thanks for all the knowledge and adventures that you’ve shared this year and to all the readers who have been very generous with sharing theirs too.

  29. Merry Christmas and a peaceful and happy New Year! Thank you for sharing yourself to us in your blogs. The wealth of information you give us enriches our lives not to mention you never fail to entertain us.

  32. Merry Christmas to you and yours, MM, and to the rest of the MM blog family. Thank you for sharing so much with us this year and looking forward to what this New Year holds for the MM cyber family:) Special greetings to Bettyq, and your sister too, for sharing so much of themselves as well. Take care, y’all !!!

  35. Merry Christmas to everyone – heartfelt wishes for peace and good health. Thank you, MM, it has been a great 7 year ride and thanks for embracing all of us with your wit, curiosity and all that good stuff!!

  40. Beautiful arrangement! May you have a blessed Christmas MM, Mrs. MM, the Teen, the crew and all Marketmanila readers!!!!!!

  42. MM, from my family here in Dubai to yours, wish you a Christmas filled with lots and lots of happiness.

  46. With all of the broken Deutsch that I can muster… “Ich wünsche deiner familie eine Fröhliche Weihnachten!” Thank you for all of the entertaining and informative posts MM! May we all enjoy our holidays! :)

  49. Merry Christmas MM and family and chocolate labrador (I miss mine, who stays in Manila waiting for me to come back each year, though he may soon migrate to Paris) and looking forward to reading your posts all through 2012!

  50. Merry Christmas to you and your family. Your blog brightens up my day. Looking forward or more posts ;)

  53. An old gemelina (sp?) tree across the street was felled by the heavy rains and strong winds cutting off power and internet connection in the middle of the night and so this Christmas message is a bit late…..from Calapan City, Or. Mindoro.

    It has been said that our lives are gifts from God……that what we do with them is our gift in return. Christmas time is the perfect time to remember and celebrate these gifts along with the gifts of friendship and charity as we remember and give to those in need , the many who have experienced the calamities brought on by recent natural disasters.

    A blessed christmas to you MM, Mrs. MM, Sister and the Teen who appears destined in many ways to manifest her dad’s genetic imprint. Thank you MM for this blog and for your special gift of sharing!

    A special greeting to betty Q who not only adds her own spice to this blog and who seems to have a cup that never runs empty with ideas and generosity.

    Happy Christmas to all!

  55. Merry Christmas to you MM and your family (biologic and web). May the Lord continue to bless you and prosper you and all your endeavors.

  56. Merry Christmas! Your flower arrangement is fabulous…thanks for all the tips you have shared. I have used a lot of them especially on cooking ;D

  61. Merry Christmas MM and family and cheers to another year of successful blogging. Merry Christmas to everybody!!!

  63. Have a great Christmas and New Year holiday MM and family. Thank you for another year of sharing your generous spirit through this blog. May the good Lord continue to bless you and yours in the coming year.

  65. I commented too soon on the previous post… anyways, Merry Christmas MM, your family, the crew and my fellow readers!

    just my opinion: I like this flower arrangement better the the first one :)

  68. May your hearts be kindled by the fire of Christ’s love and may His divine light shine forth to guide you in the way of peace for this coming year.
    A joyful Christmas and a blessed New Year MM, Mrs MM, Teen and to all bloggers esp those I’ve interacted with through this blog, gave me tips, answered my trivial questions and gave recommendations, with special mention of Betty q (woo hoo), Sister, Connie C, MP, Ley. Salamat sa inyo at mabuhay!!!

  69. Merry Christmas MM and family. Have just seen you on TLC, Anthony Bourdain’s show, where he declared the lechon, best pig ever! Makes me more proud to be Pinoy. Thank you for always promoting our culture, our food.

  70. no.3 flower arrangement from top is the best for me. not congested. you can appreciate it more than the rest.

  72. UG MAINGON MAN USAB KANIMO DONG MM. MA-AYONG PASKO USAB UG INGON MAN SA IMONG PAMILYA. HINAUT PA UNTA NGA ANG BAG-ONG TUIG MAGAHATAG KANIMO OG LIG-ON NGA LAWAS, GRASYA SA DIYOS UG BAG-ONG KINABUHI. LINGAW KO KA-AYO SA IMOHANG BLOG. PERMEHA INTAWON NI PALIHUG KAY GIMINGAW NA JUD MI OG DAKU SA AMONG YUTANG NATAWHAN – PINALANGGANG SUGBO ILABI NA SA CIUDAD SA CARCAR. ANG GINO-O MA-ANA-A KANIMO!

    ANG IMONG ‘VIRTUAL’/E-DOKDOK (E-MAIL) NGA HIGALA SA TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA

  75. Merry Christmas to MM and family!
    You have the most detailed interesting adventurous food blog in the philippines.
    may your tribe increase.

  76. MM, I am inspired by the posts you have on flowers. This post inspired me even more! Thank you for all that you do.

    Regards from China (looking forward to winter break so I can go home to Cebu!) :)

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