When we were kids, we always look forward to celebrating Christmas, hoping to receive that long-awaited holiday present. To unwrap what Santa and his little helpers had sent all the way from who-knows-where. To smell the yuletide air and feel the holiday chills. To wake up at dawn for Misa De Gallo and indulge in puto bumbong and bibingka afterwards.
We couldn't wait for that most special dinner of the year, when the family and relatives come together for a night of thanksgiving. The hamon, quezo de bola, lechon, and even the simplest things kahit de lata lang for as long as it's Noche Buena with the family...spells Joy.
The mere thought of opening Christmas presents together with your loved ones on His birthday brings huge excitement and thrills you can't even quite explain.
Remember that???
As adults, we find ourselves asking, Where has that Christmas go? When has Christmas turned into a stressful, capitalist-driven holiday instead of a fun-exciting vacation? When did it become this tiresome routine?
The child, who for a period of time, was at the receiving end of seemingly endless pamasko, now finds herself at the opposite spectrum: the reality of beating the holiday rush for last-minute shopping for her family and friends... and wait for it.... forget-not the ever-widening social circle, for whom she is "semi-required" to gift.
The child whose eat-then-play participation in Noche Buena transitioned to punong abala-event organizer-cook-runner-peacemaker-panic attack pacifier and whathaveyou.
The reunions become horrific dates where your Titas and Titos confront you with armalite queries... Bakit single ka pa rin, maganda/gwapo ka naman!?!?, Dun ka pa rin nagtatrabaho???, Kailan kayo magpapakasal??!?, Ayyyy break na kayo??
It took you quite a while that in reality Christmas is not an event that magically springs and presents itself. It takes helluva work!
So you ask...
What was once easy and exciting became predictable and loaded. Did Christmas change? Did Christmas become like one of those "mairaos lang kind of event"/ "let's just get this over and done with Holiday mood and make everyone happy"?
Christmas didn't change. It does not. People do.
Life unfolds. Children become adults.
We could only wish we could stay forever young and see Christmas from the eyes of a child--- that easy, exciting Christmas that we used to have.
/fmr2014/
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