Anticipating Christmas, Not

Agu Christmas Series is a collection of blog-style articles from any non-Aslag Online Team member who wishes to share his/her personal thoughts about his/her Christmas.

It’s the start of the last two months of the year, nights grow longer, talahib fields are blooming white and the weather seems to be getting colder, making an early morning shower almost impossible. The ghosts of Halloween have only finished bidding their farewells and yet, the people have already something else bothering their minds, the wicked grins coupled by the outstretched palms of their tiyanaks, este, inaanaks. Convenience stores are starting to clean up the web designs that they hung on their establishments and are replacing them with green garlands with matching brightly colored balls. Malls and fastfood restaurants have replaced their pop song playlists in favor of carols. One can’t doubt it, Christmas, one of the happiest days we have in our calendar, is quickly approaching.

Christmas is one of the, if not the, most enjoyable holidays we celebrate, the absence of classes, family reunions, lots of food, spending a cozy night with someone special, and even receiving something free. What’s more to ask? It’s the only time in the year when the entire world’s population seems to be a notch kinder. And yet with all its perks, Christmas still brings with it some things which I, on the least, don’t like. I may sound like a whiner here, but hey, nothing beats complaining about things with the signature ‘yih’ that only true-blooded Kapampangans can deliver. Here’s a quick rundown of some things which I hate about Christmas.

I don’t like parols. Yes, you got that right, I hate one of the things which makes Pampanga known all-over the country. I dislike parols, and I hate their makers even more, especially those who sell their wares along the OG road. Why? Ever since I was forced to interview these parol-makers, my impression of them started to change radically. They might be talented artists, yes, but for me, they are all cynical persons who don’t give a damn about anything but earning money. And besides, parols might be all colorful and shiny, but they also place a big tab on precious electricity, making bills fatter. For more information on the interview fiasco, just ask Ruby. =]

Christmas is tiring. Very much. Thank you. Haha. Kidding aside, Christmas is one of the few times in a year when, again, the entire world’s population feels the need to get their asses out of their seats and go somewhere else. We have the pre-Christmas engagements that we do weeks before Christmas, like buying gifts for others and hoping they’ll buy for us too. We shop for new clothes, all of which must be roughly larger than our old ones to accommodate the additional weight that we’ll be picking up. Going to the supermarket and buying all the needed stuff for the Noche Buena plus the decorations that need to be put up. Top that with queuing a long line for your turn as it is not only you who is currently doing all of these stuff. If that’s not tiring, then I have no idea what tiring means anymore, and that’s the only the pre-Christmas things-to-do, add the other stuff that we do during and after Christmas and you’ll be too tired to read the rest of this. Haha!

Malls get crowded during the Christmas season. The mall, one of the best places man can be in, becomes the number one place to avoid. You can’t even stroll in a mall when the Christmas season kicks in, you have to fight your way through the sea of endless people all bent upon not letting you pass. All because of the holiday sales that these malls put up in order to earn more money, now I’m having a hard time trying not to put mall owners in the same level as those parol vendors. Joke lang, haha! Still, other factors might come in play, like the tendency of people to put away their shopping until the last minute, thus the congestion of malls. But whatever the reason is, malls can be very un-accommodating whenever Christmas approaches.

Studies show that as one’s age increases, the probability of him receiving free stuff during Christmas approaches zero. Haha. Enaka anak, ada pen. What a big letdown for those not within the age limit but still expect something, like me. I remember those times when my aginaldo reaches the 5-digit amount, nowadays, I consider myself lucky if my total haul reaches 3 digits. Haha! This Christmas, however, I’ll just be expecting the free food. As my accounts have shown (oha!), the number of gifts and the amount of aginaldo that I have received for the last 5 years can be plotted on a downward sloping curve. Oh well, just the fact that I passed Math 100 is equivalent to a decade’s worth of aginlado and free stuff for me. =]

Lastly, it will be another cold Christmas for me. Spending Christmas ‘alone’ just gives me the urge to replace the Bonnie M. and Ray Conniff Chrismas carol playlist with a Secondhand Serenade and My Chemical Romance one. Masarap mag-emo pag pasko, malamig e. =] For the past two years, I have been part of the Samahang Malamig ang Pasko, or SMP for short. And what’s difference between celebrating Christmas alone and with someone ‘special’? Nothing. It’s just that celebrating Christmas with someone real special just doubles the happiness it brings. Cheesy much? Haha. Well that doesn’t matter, I still have a little more than a month left, let’s just see what happens.

Even with these reasons, I can still say that Christmas is really one of my most-awaited holidays. The fun that it brings far outweighs my reasons to hate it. The material stuff we receive is just something we put on top of the cake. (Pero Lord, kung may ibibigay ka sa akin, sana siya na lang! Haha!) Kidding aside, Christmas, for whatever strange reason, will always be the one day I anticipate the most. So as we countdown the days left before the twenty-fifth of December, above the fun, festivities and other celebrations that Christmas may bring, let us also not forget to remember that little Child who was born on the manger.

And as Jose Mari Chan’s song goes, the song which I covered shamelessly =], let’s sing merry Christmas and a happy holidays.

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