Many of my friends (especially tagalog ones) spend it with noche buena, simbang gabi, decorations and whatever makes them look busy. I like that proverbial saying, "you buy things you don't need, with money you don't have, to impress people you don't like" The holidays have become so commercialized that it has lost the essence of the meaning of the season.
I am not one to do any of those traditions mentioned because for me, Christmas day is the event and anything before that were just normal days. Sure, we had decorations and food fare, but my mom didn't stress herself out if she didn't feel like. And for us, it was really no big deal.
Christmas day in Cebu was dressing up to visit all my relatives. Something like visita iglesia, only this was 'visita pariente'. Normally, my cousins and I would all ride a combi, then start with relatives nearest the compound. All of us knew what our gifts were, we just didn't know the value. Not one to stress out, all my aunts and uncles have imparted on themselves to give us cash gifts. Even as we grew older and got married, most of my relatives still gave cash gifts. That way, we could buy ourselves with what we needed or wanted. Unless you made your material request known to a relative who can afford, then that's a different story.
By noon, we would converge in my grandma's house for the family gathering. As we were already stuffed from eating whatever was offered us during our visits, we would just then count our stash. Planning what to do with our collections was fun. And if that was not enough, our grandparents would add to our stash only if we did a presentation, which we readily obliged. Usually our plays had plots with gangsters kidnaping a rich guy and a flirty lady'. Then, they would be rescued by good guys. Eventually, a gun fight would ensue ending in death for all the actors in the play..And I mean everyone. I guess we all agreed that nobody was to be a hero of some sort, since we all wanted to be heroes. So to even it out, we all died in the play.
We probably did a thousand plays in our family gatherings. Although different settings and scenarios, we always had the same plot. I always got the role of flirty lady...ALWAYS!..And my other cousins always had the same roles...ALWAYS ! I guess it was the dialogue that made it more interesting. We had a knack of making dialogues seem crazy.
Lolo Banong was an uncle who was considered the 'Santa Claus' of the compound. He was a huge stocky man with a heart of gold. I got my namesake from him and even when I was growing up, I always felt as the favored 'niece'. I always had the higher stash than the rest of my cousins when it came to him.
Every christmas morning, Lolo Banong would gather the less priviledged around the neighborhood and have them line up on his driveway. Children in tattered clothes, snot dripping from their noses and some smelling of dried fish would eagerly come. Even mothers carrying small babbies would join the group. Then Lolo Banong would give each one a coin and see the smile on their faces. I remember him giving out 25 centavos , but then it became more as inflation crept in. Before he died, more than twenty years ago, he was already giving those huge silver peso coins.
Fast forward several years later, old traditions are replaced by our very own. Relatives have relocated, some got married and spend the holidays with their own respective families. But thanks to technology, the closeness of a family can still be felt even with thousands of miles apart. With webcams, cell phones and even iphones/blackberries, we can witness the happy smiles from families opening balikbayan boxes filled with gifts, to toasting our glasses and sharing our holiday recipes. As we always say, "I'm just a phone call away!"
Usually, preparations like card giving or gift shopping would be done when the 'ber' months come into place. By the time December steps in, I'm usually done. I have taken the stance which my mother took of not stressing myself. That's because I want to enjoy the Holiday and not be bothered by too many things. Except for my grandchildren who I dote with buying gifts, my niece and nephews get the old tradition of cash gifts.
Not one to dress with holiday trimmings, the only thing I stress myself is the menu I cook. Thats the enjoyment that I don't want to miss. Preparation is key to having fun. And by the time guests arrive, all I do is take out food from the oven and the fridge, lay them out on the buffet and its set. In America, everyone helps himself with fancy paper plates to replace those chinas and plastic wine glasses in lieu of glass goblets.
This christmas, we let my grandchildren do the broadway "Annie" before giving them their presents. But the video I took was that of my daughter in law and my son coaching my grandchildren. The sight of my son pirouetting with arms doing a MacDonald and my daughter in law's facial expression con gusto was really comical.
Christmas is really a time for children. In a few years, my grandchildren will be one of those that will recieve cash instead of something material. In this day and age, you can never be too sure what they really want. Technology has to blame for that. PS3's, wii's, laptops, latest gadget cellphones or whatever is the 'in' thing is better than a scarf, perfume or a dress.
Come to think of it, I wonder what Jesus got on his 10th birthday?
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