Do You "Feel" Christmas?

I have seen a few status of my friends' status on facebook that they do not yet feel Christmas even if it's just one day away. What is it to like to "feel" Christmas? I suspect that what they are talking about has nothing to do with what Christmas is about. I am guessing that the Christmas "feeling" that they are hoping to experience is all about the excitement of gifts and parties and Noche Buena preparation and such things. I admit I used to be like them until than a decade ago and maybe it all started when we were little and believed in Santa Claus.

But really, these FB friends who are my grade school and high school classmates are now approaching middle age like me and they are still talking about that Christmas feeling. I have stopped "celebrating" Christmas more than ten years ago. By celebrating, I mean stressing myself with buying gifts until the 24th of December, standing in line at the grocery for the Noche Buena, doing a lot of cooking and pushing ourselves to the point of exhaustion just to keep up with tradition not to mention spending tons of money to have that Christmas "feeling."

Of course, I always went to mass on Christmas day and for some people, completing the Simbang Gabi gets them into that Christmas spirit as well as celebrating the real reason for Christmas, which is the birth of our Savior. All those other things we do are mostly from tradition. That we should do this and have that. It took a lot of hardship and trials to make me realize that what some people do to celebrate Christmas does not really mean anything and has nothing to do with what it is about. And sometimes what it is all about is forgotten amidst all these preparations because we get carried away by the "feeling."

My life is a lot better now but I continue to not "celebrate" Christmas. I have no decoration at home. I haven't bought gifts. We do attend parties and take them as that, parties the way we have the rest of the year.

P, being of a different faith (although he is also a Christian) from me has a different belief about Christmas. If I had not gone through what I have, I would not now have shared his view of it which is all centered on Him. I am considering converting to his faith next year. What did we do? Christmas eve is on a Saturday this year and Christmas day is on a Sunday. Via and I went to church just like we always did on Saturday to worship and on Christmas day, well, my Aunt whose husband passed away recently, has invited us for lunch. So we went and visited her.

I have not told Via about the Santa Claus of my youth. How I used to think that all those gifts were really from Santa Claus and he was real just like other children. Such fairy tales make it more difficult to deal with realities of life. Especially now, we are celebrating all these things that are just driven by big businesses like halloween, etc. Halloween never used to be celebrated in this country. Malls and hotels started promoting it in the 90s I think. So what do I tell the Twerp about Santa Claus because she does see him at the mall and on TV. I say he's a cartoon character just like Winnie the Pooh and Micky Mouse. I don't think I'm depriving her of anything by doing this. She is a happy and well adjusted child and very perceptive.

A lot of people will not agree with me and that is all right. This is my opinion and that I find some of those FB status really absurd.

Wishing you all happy holidays!

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