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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The Secret to a Long Life

The Twerp and I went to my Aunt's birthday last night. It was her 80th birthday. She is my father's older sister and has the same birthday as my father who passed away about 8 years ago. He wasn't even 70. I said to my cousin how most of the sisters were still alive and all the brothers have passed away. He said that women usually live longer than men. Well...maybe. Below is a photo of three of my father's sisters: the youngest, 70 (second from left); the eldest, 85 (third from left); and the birthday celebrant (right most).

I'm not sure about my cousin's theory but on my mother side, I had a grandfather who lived to be 99. His eldest daughter, my favorite aunt is now 96, still strong, healthy and in command of her faculties. There many aunties that are 85 years old and more.

So what's the secret to living a long life? For me, it's a combination of the following:

• The lifestyle back then in their generation was much simpler and the kind of world they grew up in had less pollution, chemicals and processed food.


• A strong faith. My aunt is like a rock in her faith and accepts anything that comes her. Nothing fazes her and she never worries or fears anything.


• Being a giving person. She is not rich but gives generously of her time and money without expecting anything in return.


• She is also humble, never putting herself forward or over anyone.

In a nutshell, clean and simple living with no fears and worries. What do you think is the secret to a long and healthy life?

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How Rude!

We were at Powermac in Megamall Cyberzone yesterday looking for a cover for P's ipad. The store displays all the ipods and macbooks, etc. they have which people can try out. The ipod touch caught my eye because it was showing new games. Via and I went over there to check it out and P soon joined us. We were discussing which games to download when we were rudely pushed by a chubby boy of about 7 years old. I turned to look and he kept on shoving himself between us trying to get to the ipod touch all the while pushing P and me away with his hands. I heard a woman behind us, who I assumed was his mother, weakly call out something like "Aki." Probably his name. That was all. She went on about her business and the boy kept pushing us out of the way. I stared at the boy in disbelief. I have never seen such rudeness! I wanted to stand my ground and see what he would do next but then I thought, never mind. He's not my kid. 

I noticed that many kids these days lack manners and are loud and obnoxious. It bothers me even more that they seem to come from middle to upper class families and go to exclusive private schools. We seem to be raising a generation of brats and kids who feel entitled. Parents often don't have time to teach their children the values that were taught the generation before because they're busy with work or too many modern-day concerns. These kids are also given toys that cost a month's salary for some people.

It makes me worry what kind of world my daughter will be growing up in. I hope we are able to teach her old fashioned values and lay a good foundation before she goes off to school and be exposed to other children who might have a bad influence.

Small children should also not be given high tech, expensive gadgets as toys. It sends them the wrong message of having something expensive and not earning it. Also, it discourages them from going out, socializing and playing with other children their age.

Raising children is a big responsibility and very challenging, but more so in the environment that we are in now.

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A Dozen Red Roses

I've always thought that giving flowers was a waste of money. Better to give chocolates or have dinner in a nice restaurant. Probably because I never got any flowers hahahaha....

Yesterday, P gave me a dozen red roses for my birthday. Wow...it's nice pala to get flowers :) I didn't have a vase to put them in so I improvised and used a jar.

He also wanted to have dinner in a nice restaurant. However, the TV was showing badminton matches from the Beijing Olympics and we wanted to follow the Taufik/Wong Choong Han match through the livescore. We had food delivered instead from Max.

I would always be the one ordering whenever we wanted food delivered as he had difficulty communicating with the order taker through the phone. But last night I wanted him to do the ordering. It's more special I told him. He had no choice.....hahaha......took him a while but it turned out alright.

p.s.-taufik lost :(

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