Christmas has always been the highlight of my year – as a child and even until now. My family makes it a point to spend Christmas at my maternal grandmother’s ancestral house. Every year, that house would be occupied by every member of the family – my parents would be there chatting with my grandmother or with my aunts and uncles while me and my cousins would be playing around, singing or dancing or basically just waiting impatiently for the clock to strike twelve. There would be bright, blinking Christmas lights adorning the house and a few lighted parols. The big Christmas tree would be standing at the center of the living room, complete with the ornaments and the gold star perched at the top of it.
But in my young eyes, these things fade in comparison with what was underneath the Christmas tree – the Christmas gifts! I and my cousins would argue about who got the most number of gifts or if a Ninang gave a better gift than another Ninang. Of course, the big, colored (usually red or green) stockings hanging on the door or on the wall would not go unnoticed. Each stocking (assigned to each kid) will be checked every 5 minutes and delighted squeals would be heard when finally ‘Santa’ leaves presents in the stockings. Also, there would be a lot of party food (hotdogs on stick with marshmallow on top, barbeques, spaghetti etc) and sweets (chocolates and candies). In short, when I was a kid, Christmas was all about gifts, good food and playing around.
Today, I still love to receive gifts (who doesn’t?), I still anticipate the food that would be at the table during Christmas eve, and I still look forward to playing with my cousins. But more than these things, now that I’m older, I appreciate the true meaning of Christmas – the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ. I understand that it is His birthday and that we are holding the celebration for Him. Also, more than the material gifts, I value more the people who gave them and even those who didn’t but gave me something more precious – the gift of love. I look forward to Christmas because I enjoy the company of my family and friends and Christmas is when we get-together, talk, share our experiences and what went on with our life. For me, we get closer to each other every Christmas that we spend together.
Many say that is great to be a kid on Christmas. But for me, in this season, it is great to be a kid at heart who understands that family, friendship, love and faith are by far the greatest gift that we should treasure and remember not only on the 25th of December but on each day of our lives.
1 comments:
brushing up huh?i can say it's still toothpick clean...^^
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