It is the time of the year again that we gather to celebrate this special occasion we call Christmas.
In the Philippines, you see decors starting in September then hear songs right after Halloween, as what, they say this country has the longest Christmas celebration.
For us who are far from our family, working abroad or just not living in the same city we try our best to save for that plane ticket and some gifts. Our families back home as well are eager to hear our stories and curious about what we’ve seen. A lot of parties to attend and gifts to give and of course diet is not part of the vocabulary during this season.
Luckily for me this year I am home as well as my three sisters. Every year we celebrate Christmas at the farm where our parents live at least we try to. So with our busy lives, we packed some stuff and went to the farm, we brought some gifts and some food for Christmas dinner. We arrived at the farm, Mama and Papa were there to welcomed us with big smiles altho they are not as expressive, I know that they were very happy to see us.
My sister Honey brought her two kids named Patricia (6) and Johanna (5), these two girls are the brightest. Patricia the eldest daughter loves to watch tv or play games on the tablet, the younger one is different she loves the outdoors and asks a lot too. She would talk to you randomly about anything asking you questions. Then while we were having lunch I overheard her asking her Mama bout the Christmas tree. We didn’t buy a tree nor decorated the house this year since everyone was “busy”.
Johanna “ Mama? where is our Christmas Tree? What if Santa won’t see our house and will not give my gifts?”
I felt embarrassed.
I have to actually take an entire afternoon reflecting on it.
We were so focused on our lives that we forgot to actually appreciate this occasion, we forgot that this is very very important to the young ones. I thought a gift or two will do but no we too as adults should just stop and really be present at this moment.
This day is so rare it comes once a year yet we think of tomorrow already or what 2018 will bring. The idea of a Christmas tree brought some tears to me because we used to be excited as well putting colors and lights in the house but now things are different and we truly forgot what this occasion means. It is sometimes ironic how kids can remind us of the lessons we taught them and we are teaching them.
We got a lot of things to learn from these little innocent eyes because the way they see life is beautiful, no hurt, no hopefulness but full of possibilities.
Next Christmas, I promise to buy a big giant Christmas tree for Johanna!
Love,
Tiyay
P.S. Johanna is the girl from the right. She is looking happy with her cousin Yoni.
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