It is yet again the season of joy and happiness— IT IS CHRISTMAS TIME!
When I was a child, Christmas season was that magical time of the year when everything feels so alive and ecstatic. People are always smiling and excited to spend the holiday season with their families to make merry and celebrate.
Decorating houses and streets with vibrant ornaments, lights, and parols were done as early as September to signify that Christmas is coming. Yuletide carols are also being played from every corner of the community and even at the malls. In fact, it has now become a pun that during this time, Jose Mari Chan and Mariah Carey start to “defrost.”
Speaking of the frost, we might not have snow, but we can still feel the winter breeze while walking at night to attend Simbang Gabi which truly adds up to the uniqueness of how we celebrate this season.
Reminiscing how I celebrated the holidays before made me realize that things may have changed. As expressed in a Christmas song, “’Tis the season to be jolly!” But recently, it feels like the halls of Christmas were not decked at all.
𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐖𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫
Growing up, I always look forward to Christmas as this is one of the only times in the year when wishes do come true. We were made to believe that Santa Claus would grant us our desired gifts if we behaved ourselves the whole year. As a child, there was this thrill in finding out if I am on the nice or naughty list, and whether I deserve to receive a present or not.
Christmas time brings a lot of fond memories and joyous celebrations. I remember the days when my cousins and I would make instruments out of tin cans and tansans, and the nights when we would use those to carol outside the houses in our community. May we earn a lot or not, what is important for us is we were having fun and spending time with each other.
Family truly is one of the focal points of Christmas. This is about celebrating our loved ones; may it be our blood or chosen family. Whenever it is the holidays, it is expected that many will hold gatherings and reunions as this is the only time when most of us have the time to catch up with each other. Aside from that, what I also look forward to on these occasions are the food, and of course, the aguinaldos from our ninongs and ninangs that we have not seen for a while.
Those were the days that I truly want to go back to. That simple joy of receiving gifts, no matter how many and how much it costs. That bliss you get when you get to ceaselessly bond with the people you love. That innocence of being carefree, cheerful, and exhilarated on how Christmas will go this year.
The holiday season is supposed to be warm, comforting, and jubilant. It should be the most wonderful time of the year, but why is it that in recent years, it seems that it has become different; it was not like last Christmas.
𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬
What is sad about life is that we have to grow up. One day we are only eight years old, happily celebrating noche buena with our family; and the next we are already eighteen and worried about our year-end schoolworks. I may sound like a broken record, but time flies so quickly that we do not realize that things have changed already— that the upcoming Christmas would not be the same as the last.
One of the reasons I consider why we feel like Christmas is different from before is because of the memories and nostalgia it gives us. We realize that we are not little kids anymore. We have grown now, and it is a hard pill to swallow, but hey, that is just how the world works.
We realize that the older we get, the more tasks and functions we have, and that just takes away the euphoria we felt before. We now have a handful of things to handle that we experience a lot of stress and anxiety during this season, that all we want to do is to rest and be at peace.
Aside from that, what happened to us in the last few years have brought life-changing effects on how we celebrate the holidays. With the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, we experienced a lot of restrictions that affected how we interact with people. Suddenly, any type of physical gatherings that we had before are banned, and many of our festivities have also been prohibited. For example, attending Simbang Gabi has become virtual as only a few people can enter the church. There were also no children who would carol every night, and some of the houses were not even decorated with anything. Lastly, we also have lost a lot of people to the pandemic. With all these, Christmas has become more unbearable and disheartening.
Today, our society is slowly going back to normal as the numbers of COVID cases are declining; businesses are coming back; and, the restrictions being more lax than ever. However, as we are still trying to address the aftermath of the pandemic, a newborn dilemma has risen: inflation. The prices of even the most basic condiments have gotten higher, but the income of the people stays the same. Many families are already struggling just to make ends meet, even more so, to prepare something for Christmas. Thus, some decided not to celebrate it anymore.
Realizing all of these makes my Christmas bluer than ever. It felt like my heart was given away. But it is never too late to make our Christmas a little merrier.
𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚 𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬
They say Christmas is for the young, but I say, it could also be for the young at heart. We may have grown now and feel like the magic of yuletide is disappearing, but we need to realize that this magic comes from us. We cannot go back in time and relive our memories of last Christmas. Yet, we can always make new ones!
Processing that this holiday is not the same for us anymore may take some time and reflection. It may take us a moment to understand that we have different roles now and that we have to move on. But embracing this new journey and taking each step can help us see how much we have grown, and that is a gift and an achievement that could make our Christmas a little fulfilling.
Even if we only see such slow and little improvements, developing ourselves to be better is one of the best gifts we could give to ourselves, and that should be celebrated. As they say, Christmas is the season of gift-giving. So, treating ourselves to a happy yule would not be bad at all.
As we treat ourselves, we should also not forget to treat others: our families, friends, special ones, and most importantly, those who are not blessed. With what is all happening around us, showing kindness and compassion would not hurt us at all. The world is already cruel, but it does not take much to be kind to ourselves and to others. Let us deck the halls of Christmas and make ‘tis season jolly again!